The Twilight Saga - Reading the Books
by EtaMishii
Summary: Just an idea Kira and I had. The Cullens, wolves, Billy, Charlie, Kira and I read the Twilight saga. Post Breaking Dawn.
1. The Prologue - Mine, not the real one

**Prelude**

"Oh, hey, Charlie. Alice called you too?"

"Yeah, something about a book. Alice was talking too fast for me to get much more than that."

"Well, at least I'm not the only one who doesn't know what's going on." The two fathers were quiet as they walked up the drive. Well, Charlie walked and Billy rolled, but that's not the point.

Anyway, the two fathers walked/rolled up to the Cullen's door, thanked Edward when he used his brain-reading abilities to open the door at the perfect time so as not to leave it open too long, but also not to make the entrance awkwardly rushed. (Yay inconsequential details!)

Alice crossed the room to stand at Charlie's side. "These two girls have sat here for hours. All either of them have said to us is 'Bring the shapeshifters, imprints, Charlie, and Billy.' I didn't see them coming, but they've apparently been heading here for a while. You're the last to get here." As Alice was talking, she had pushed Billy, Charlie and Edward walking beside them, into the kitchen.

When the four entered the kitchen, they were greeted with the sight of the other seven Cullens, sixteen Quileute men, one Quileute woman, the four imprinted women that aren't Cullens, and two girls.

One of the girls looked up, and both human men were taken aback at the blankness in her golden eyes. Her pale hands were wrapped tightly around four large books and one smaller packet of paper. She frowned slightly, turning to the second girl.

The second girl looked at her companion, smiling amiably at her. "Charlie Swan and Billy Black just came in." The first girl just nodded, her frown remaining the only hint of emotion on her face. "Oh, calm down Kithrin. Just because you can't read it doesn't mean you have to be a meanie."

"Wait, what do you mean, she can't read it?" one of the newer wolves, Alex, asked.

The first girl laughed, dropping the apathetic appearance. "Well, I would try, but I doubt it would turn out well. Over time, I've discovered that sight is necessary to read. Well, I can read braille, but I find it odd. Reading with bumps? Not fun. Been there, hated that. Makes me feel useless. And I do not do useless."

"So, why are we here? I'm guessing it has to do with those books." Sam didn't sound the least bit happy about being in vampire central, and he wasn't.

But the second girl just grinned at him. "We're going to read them."

Silence greeted that sentence.

"Why?" Seth asked, being the first to recover from that unexpected idea.

"I wrote them," Kithrin admitted.

"So, what, you want critiques?"

"No. These books are my dreams, written down." At the confused looks, she elaborated. "I'm blind, but I can see. I just can't see through my own eyes. So I stay near Kira. I see through her eyes, see what she sees. I can see everything that way. I can see through other people's eyes too. It's easier to see through human eyes though. Their minds don't resist nearly as much, especially while sleeping. Kira's mind is nowhere near resistant though. She allows me to enter, allows me to see. I'm different than other vampires. I sleep. I dream. But I still have to see through others. One year ago, I began dreaming, and I saw… I saw many things. Memories. Memories that were not mine. Memories of a girl who loved a boy, and gave up everything for that boy. See where I'm going with this?"

"You… You saw me?" Bella's eyes widened as it dawned on her what Kithrin was saying. "Those books are my memories?"

Kira answered this time. "Yes. There is one part in the fourth book that is not yours, and the papers are not yours, but the rest… The rest is. Everything from the time you moved here up to three months ago. The packet is Edward's, and the part in the fourth is Jacob."

"Alright then. Any objections to reading them?" Ever the voice of reason, Emily stood up, already walking into the living room. Sam followed her; his pack followed him, so on and so forth. Everyone sat down on the couches, and, at his request, Carlisle was handed the first book.

* * *

Anywho, this is what we're starting with. This story is a semi-collaboration with the very nice KiraLovesYou (user number 2790998) who I am also friends with in real life. By 'semi-collaboration', I mean I type the story, she looks over it and sees if I can add anything because I'm not much of a Twilight person.


	2. Book One - The Back and Prologue

Carlisle cleared his throat. "Alright, reading the back first then.**About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him – And I didn't how dominant that part might be – that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.**"

"Well, that started out well. Why didn't you say it started like that?" Bella asked, cringing at the look her father was giving her.

"Bella, I'm blind. I have no idea what I wrote. You were the one who put the words in my head anyway."

"I never read it in the first place. We just took it here," Kira chipped in not-so-helpfully.

"You knew he was a vampire then? I thought you didn't!" Charlie said, his voice disapproving.

Carlisle continued before Bella could respond. "**I'd never given much thought to how I would die – though I'd had reason enough in the last few months – but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this. I stared without breathing across the long room, into the dark eyes of the hunter, and he looked pleasantly back at me. Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved. Noble, even. That ought to count for something. I knew that if I'd never gone to Forks, I wouldn't be facing death now. But, terrified as I was, I couldn't bring myself to regret the decision. When life offers you a dream far beyond any of your expectations, it's not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end. The hunter smiled in a friendly way as he sauntered forward to kill me.**"

"KILL YOU?! WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?!"

"Charlie, we're never going to finish if you keep interrupting like this. She's ok, see? She's right there. Calm down," Esme soothed.

"Alright…"

* * *

So, I've decided to upload one chapter a week. I may miss some today's, but I'll try. If this does get deleted, I'll be uploading it at ** www dot quibblo dot com slash quiz slash hOLR8JW slash Twilight-RTB**

You know the drill; 'dot' is a . And 'slash' is a /

* * *

Thank you to **Vampire Sweetheart 29 **who noticed I accidentally posted chapter seven of my Naruto story here. Oops!


	3. Book One - Chapter One

Chapter One – First Sight

Now that Charlie was placated, Esme held out her hand for the book, her mate passing it to her without a word. Clearing her throat, She turned to chapter one and began.

**Chapter One, First Sight.**

**My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky was a perfect, cloudless blue. I was wearing my favorite shirt- sleeveless, eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a parka.**

Emmett interrupted. "A parka? Seriously?"

"It isn't that cold here, Bella," Jacob told her, laughing.

"Compared to Phoenix? Yes. Yes it is."

**In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small town named Forks exists under a near exists under a near constant cover of clouds. It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America. It was from this town and its gloomy, omnipresent shade that my mother escaped with me when I was only a few months old. It was in this town that I'd been compelled to spend a month every summer until I was fourteen. That was the year I finally put my foot down; these past three summers, my dad, Charlie, vacationed with me in California for two weeks instead.**

**It was to Forks that I now exiled myself – an action that I took with great horror. I detested Forks.**

Charlie interrupted now. "Do you still detest it here?"

Bella laughed, gesturing around her. "How could I?"

Charlie smiled.

"**I loved Phoenix. I loved the sun and the blistering heat. I loved the vigorous, sprawling city.**

**"Bella," my mom said to me - the last of a thousand times - before I got on the plane. "You don't have to do this."**

**My mom looks like me, except with short hair and laugh lines. I felt a spasm of panic as I stared at her wide, childlike eyes. How could I leave my loving, erratic, harebrained mother to fend for herself? Of course she had Phil now, so the bills would probably get paid, there would be food in the refrigerator, gas in her car, and someone to call when she got lost, but still...**"

Sam's turn to interrupt. "Is she really that bad?"

"Sometimes."

**"I want to go," I lied. I'd always been a bad liar, but I'd been saying this lie so frequently lately that it sounded almost convincing now.**

"A convincing lie from Bella? There's no such thing."

"Shut up, Seth."

**"Tell Charlie I said hi."**

**"I will."**

**"I'll see you soon," she insisted. "You can come home whenever you want - I'll come right back as soon as you need me."**

**But I could see the sacrifice in her eyes behind the promise.**

**"Don't worry about me," I urged. "It'll be great. I love you, Mom."**

**She hugged me tightly for a minute, and then I got on the plane, and she was gone.**

**It's a four-hour flight from Phoenix to Seattle, another hour in a small plane up to Port Angeles, and then an hour drive back down to Forks. Flying doesn't bother me; the hour in the car with Charlie, though, I was a little worried about.**

Charlie pouted. "Why?"

"It will probably say, Dad."

**Charlie had really been fairly nice about the whole thing. He seemed genuinely pleased that I was coming to live with him for the first time with any degree of permanence. He'd already gotten me registered for high school and was going to help me get a car.**

**But it was sure to be awkward with Charlie. Neither of us was what anyone would call verbose, and I didn't know what there was to say regardless. I knew he was more than a little confused by my decision - like my mother before me, I hadn't made a secret of my distaste for Forks.**

"There. That's why."

"Ah. That's true."

**When I landed in Port Angeles, it was raining. I didn't see it as an omen – just unavoidable. I'd already said my goodbyes to the sun.**

**Charlie was waiting for me with the cruiser. This I was expecting, too. Charlie is Police Chief Swan to the good people of Forks. My primary motivation behind buying a car, despite the scarcity of my funds, was that I refused to be driven around town in a car with red and blue lights on top. Nothing slows down traffic like a cop.**

"That it does, that it does."

**Charlie gave me an awkward, one-armed hug when I stumbled my way off the plane.**

**"It's good to see you, Bells," he said, smiling as he automatically caught and steadied me. "You haven't changed much. How's Renée?"**

**"Mom's fine. It's good to see you, too, Dad." I wasn't allowed to call him Charlie to his face.**

**I had only a few bags. Most of my Arizona clothes were too permeable for Washington. My mom and I had pooled our resources to supplement my winter wardrobe, but it was still scanty. It all fit easily into the trunk of the cruiser.**

**"I found a good car for you, really cheap," he announced when we were strapped in.**

**"What kind of car?" I was suspicious of the way he said "good car for you" as opposed to just "good car."**

**"Well, it's a truck actually, a Chevy."**

**"Where did you find it?"**

**"Do you remember Billy Black down at La Push?" La Push is the tiny Indian reservation on the coast.**

**"No."**

"Way to make me sad, Bella."

"Sorry Billy."

**"He used to go fishing with us during the summer," Charlie prompted.  
That would explain why I didn't remember him. I do a good job of blocking painful, unnecessary things from my memory.**

"Was it really that bad?"

"Yes."

**"He's in a wheelchair now," Charlie continued when I didn't respond, "so he can't drive anymore, and he offered to sell me his truck cheap."**

**"What year is it?" I could see from his change of expression that this was the question he was hoping I wouldn't ask. "Well, Billy's done a lot of work on the engine - it's only a few years old, really."**

**I hoped he didn't think so little of me as to believe I would give up that easily. "When did he buy it?"**

**"He bought it in 1984, I think."**

**"Did he buy it new?"**

**"Well, no. I think it was new in the early sixties - or late fifties at the earliest," he admitted sheepishly.**

**"Ch - Dad, I don't really know anything about cars. I wouldn't be able to fix it if anything went wrong, and I couldn't afford a mechanic..."**

"That's why I'm here, Bella."

"I didn't remember you then, and we weren't close till later anyway. So nyeh."

**"Really, Bella, the thing runs great. They don't build them like that anymore."**

**The thing, I thought to myself... it had possibilities - as a nickname, at the very least.**

"Yet you get mad at me if I call it that."

"I loved that truck, Edward. Still do. I'll get it fixed eventually."

**"How cheap is cheap?" After all, that was the part I couldn't compromise on.**

**"Well, honey, I kind of already bought it for you. As a homecoming gift." Charlie peeked sideways at me with a hopeful expression.**

**Wow. Free.**

**"You didn't need to do that, Dad. I was going to buy myself a car."**

**"I don't mind. I want you to be happy here." He was looking ahead at the road when he said this. Charlie wasn't comfortable with expressing his emotions out loud. I inherited that from him. So I was looking straight ahead as I responded.**

**"That's really nice, Dad. Thanks. I really appreciate it." No need to add that my being happy in Forks is an impossibility. He didn't need to suffer along with me. And I never looked a free truck in the mouth - or engine.**

"So, you're not happy now?"

"I am."

"But it said…"

"This was forever ago, and I didn't know your dad then, Renesmee."

"Oh."

**"Well, now, you're welcome," he mumbled, embarrassed by my thanks.**

**We exchanged a few more comments on the weather, which was wet, and that was pretty much it for conversation. We stared out the windows in silence.**

**It was beautiful, of course; I couldn't deny that. Everything was green: the trees, their trunks covered with moss, their branches hanging with a canopy of it, the ground covered with ferns. Even the air filtered down greenly through the leaves.**

**It was too green - an alien planet.**

**Eventually we made it to Charlie's. He still lived in the small, two-bedroom house that he'd bought with my mother in the early days of their marriage. Those were the only kind of days their marriage had - the early ones. There, parked on the street in front of the house that never changed, was my new - well, new to me - truck. It was a faded red color, with big, rounded fenders and a bulbous cab. To my intense surprise, I loved it. I didn't know if it would run, but I could see myself in it. Plus, it was one of those solid iron affairs that never gets damaged - the kind you see at the scene of an accident, paint unscratched, surrounded by the pieces of the foreign car it had destroyed.**

"See? I love it, and I will get it fixed, Edward."

"Darn."

**"Wow, Dad, I love it! Thanks!" Now my horrific day tomorrow would be just that much less dreadful. I wouldn't be faced with the choice of either walking two miles in the rain to school or accepting a ride in the Chief's cruiser.**

**"I'm glad you like it," Charlie said gruffly, embarrassed again.**

**It took only one trip to get all my stuff upstairs. I got the west bedroom that faced out over the front yard. The room was familiar; it had been belonged to me since I was born. The wooden floor, the light blue walls, the peaked ceiling, the yellowed lace curtains around the window - these were all a part of my childhood. The only changes Charlie had ever made were switching the crib for a bed and adding a desk as I grew. The desk now held a secondhand computer, with the phone line for the modem stapled along the floor to the nearest phone jack. This was a stipulation from my mother, so that we could stay in touch easily. The rocking chair from my baby days was still in the corner.**

**There was only one small bathroom at the top of the stairs, which I would have to share with Charlie. I was trying not to dwell too much on that fact.**

**One of the best things about Charlie is he doesn't hover. He left me alone to unpack and get settled, a feat that would have been altogether impossible for my mother. It was nice to be alone, not to have to smile and look pleased; a relief to stare dejectedly out the window at the sheeting rain and let just a few tears escape. I wasn't in the mood to go on a real crying jag. I would save that for bedtime, when I would have to think about the coming morning.**

**Forks High School had a frightening total of only three hundred and fifty-seven – now fifty-eight - students; there were more than seven hundred people in my junior class alone back home. All of the kids here had grown up together - their grandparents had been toddlers together. I would be the new girl from the big city, a curiosity, a freak.**

**Maybe, if I looked like a girl from Phoenix should, I could work this to my advantage. But physically, I'd never fit in anywhere. I should be tan, sporty, blond - a volleyball player, or a cheerleader, perhaps - all the things that go with living in the valley of the sun.**

**Instead, I was ivory-skinned, without even the excuse of blue eyes or red hair, despite the constant sunshine. I had always been slender, but soft somehow, obviously not an athlete; I didn't have the necessary hand-eye coordination to play sports without humiliating myself - and harming both myself and anyone else who stood too close.**

Jacob laughed, remembering days spent watching Bella try and play sports. Bella glared at him.

**When I finished putting my clothes in the old pine dresser, I took my bag of bathroom necessities and went to the communal bathroom to clean myself up after the day of travel. I looked at my face in the mirror as I brushed through my tangled, damp hair. Maybe it was the light, but already I looked sallower, unhealthy. My skin could be pretty - it was very clear, almost translucent-looking - but it all depended on color. I had no color here.**

"You sound depressed about that."

"Shut up, Emmett."

"Yeah, Emmett. She doesn't get depressed until later!"

"Kithrin?"

"Yes Kira?"

"Not helping."

**Facing my pallid reflection in the mirror, I was forced to admit that I was lying to myself. It wasn't just physically that I'd never fit in. And if I couldn't find a niche in a school with three thousand people, what were my chances here?**

**I didn't relate well to people my age. Maybe the truth was that I didn't relate well to people, period. Even my mother, who I was closer to than anyone else on the planet, was never in harmony with me, never on exactly the same page. Sometimes I wondered if I was seeing the same things through my eyes that the rest of the world was seeing through theirs. Maybe there was a glitch in my brain.**

"I like that so-called glitch. It makes you, you."

"Thank you Edward."

**But the cause didn't matter. All that mattered was the effect. And tomorrow would be just the beginning.**

**I didn't sleep well that night, even after I was done crying. The constant whooshing of the rain and wind across the roof wouldn't fade into the background. I pulled the faded old quilt over my head, and later added the pillow, too. But I couldn't fall asleep until after midnight, when the rain finally settled into a quieter drizzle.**

**Thick fog was all I could see out my window in the morning, and I could feel the claustrophobia creeping up on me. You could never see the sky here; it was like a cage.**

**Breakfast with Charlie was a quiet event. He wished me good luck at school. I thanked him, knowing his hope was wasted. Good luck tended to avoid me.**

"Yeah, it kind of does."

"Shut up, Embry.

**Charlie left first, off to the police station that was his wife and family. After he left, I sat at the old square oak table in one of the three unmatching chairs and examined his small kitchen, with its dark paneled walls, bright yellow cabinets, and white linoleum floor. Nothing was changed. My mother had painted the cabinets eighteen years ago in an attempt to bring some sunshine into the house. Over the small fireplace in the adjoining handkerchief-sized family room was a row of pictures. First a wedding picture of Charlie and my mom in Las Vegas, then one of the three of us in the hospital after I was born, taken by a helpful nurse, followed by the procession of my school pictures up to last year's. Those were embarrassing to look at - I would have to see what I could do to get Charlie to put them somewhere else, at least while I was living here.**

**It was impossible, being in this house, not to realize that Charlie had never gotten over my mom. It made me uncomfortable.**

"Should I repaint?"

"I think so. At least put a new layer on."

"Alice, you'll help, right?"

"Of course!"

**I didn't want to be too early to school, but I couldn't stay in the house anymore. I donned my jacket – which had the feel of a biohazard suit - and headed out into the rain.**

**It was just drizzling still, not enough to soak me through immediately as I reached for the house key that was always hidden under the eaves by the door, and locked up. The sloshing of my new waterproof boots was unnerving. I missed the normal crunch of gravel as I walked. I couldn't pause and admire my truck again as I wanted; I was in a hurry to get out of the misty wet that swirled around my head and clung to my hair under my hood.**

**Inside the truck, it was nice and dry. Either Billy or Charlie had obviously cleaned it up, but the tan upholstered seats still smelled faintly of tobacco, gasoline, and peppermint. The engine started quickly, to my relief, but loudly, roaring to life and then idling at top volume. Well, a truck this old was bound to have a flaw. The antique radio worked, a plus that I hadn't expected.**

"You're welcome."

"Thank you Jacob."

**Finding the school wasn't difficult, though I'd never been there before. The school was, like most other things, just off the highway. It was not obvious that it was a school; only the sign, which declared it to be the Forks High School, made me stop. It looked like a collection of matching houses, built with maroon-colored bricks. There were so many trees and shrubs I couldn't see its size at first. Where was the feel of the institution? I wondered nostalgically. Where were the chain-link fences, the metal detectors?**

**I parked in front of the first building, which had a small sign over the door reading front office. No one else was parked there, so I was sure it was off limits, but I decided I would get directions inside instead of circling around in the rain like an idiot. I stepped unwillingly out of the toasty truck cab and walked down a little stone path lined with dark hedges. I took a deep breath before opening the door.**

**Inside, it was brightly lit, and warmer than I'd hoped. The office was small; a little waiting area with padded folding chairs, orange-flecked commercial carpet, notices and awards cluttering the walls, a big clock ticking loudly. Plants grew everywhere in large plastic pots, as if there wasn't enough greenery outside. The room was cut in half by a long counter, cluttered with wire baskets full of papers and brightly colored flyers taped to its front. There were three desks behind the counter, one of which was manned by a large, red-haired woman wearing glasses. She was wearing a purple t-shirt, which immediately made me feel overdressed.**

**The red-haired woman looked up. "Can I help you?"**

**"I'm Isabella Swan," I informed her, and saw the immediate awareness light her eyes. I was expected, a topic of gossip no doubt. Daughter of the Chief's flighty ex-wife, come home at last.**

"Oh yeah. Lots of gossip."

"Thank you, Rose. Very helpful to know that now."

"That's me, always helpful!"

**"Of course," she said. She dug through a precariously stacked pile of documents on her desk till she found the ones she was looking for. "I have your schedule right here, and a map of the school." She brought several sheets to the counter to show me.**

**She went through my classes for me, highlighting the best route to each on the map, and gave me a slip to have each teacher sign, which I was to bring back at the end of the day. She smiled at me and hoped, like Charlie, that I would like it here in Forks. I smiled back as convincingly as I could.**

"Bella, you're never convincing."

"Gee, thanks Jasper."

**When I went back out to my truck, other students were starting to arrive. I drove around the school, following the line of traffic. I was glad to see that most of the cars were older like mine, nothing flashy. At home I'd lived in one of the few lower-income neighborhoods that were included in the Paradise Valley District. It was a common thing to see a new Mercedes or Porsche in the student lot. The nicest car here was a shiny Volvo, and it stood out. Still, I cut the engine as soon as I was in a spot, so that the thunderous volume wouldn't draw attention to me.**

**I looked at the map in the truck, trying to memorize it now; hopefully I wouldn't have to walk around with it stuck in front of my nose all day. I stuffed everything in my bag, slung the strap over my shoulder, and sucked in a huge breath. I can do this, I lied to myself feebly. No one was going to bite me. I finally exhaled and stepped out of the truck.**

Emmett and the pack started laughing.

"I didn't know!" Bella stuck her tongue out childishly.

**I kept my face pulled back into my hood as I walked to the sidewalk, crowded with teenagers. My plain black jacket didn't stand out, I noticed with relief.**

**Once I got around the cafeteria, building three was easy to spot. A large black "3" was painted on a white square on the east corner. I felt my breathing gradually creeping toward hyperventilation as I approached the door. I tried holding my breath as I followed two unisex raincoats through the door.**

**The classroom was small. The people in front of me stopped just inside the door to hang up their coats on a long row of hooks. I copied them. They were two girls, one a porcelain-colored blonde, the other also pale, with light brown hair. At least my skin wouldn't be a standout here.**

"Hey, that's us, Rose!"

"Congratulations, Alice. You know who you are."

"You're mean, Leah."

"You're a child, Alice."

**I took the slip up to the teacher, a tall, balding man whose desk had a nameplate identifying him as Mr. Mason. He gawked at me when he saw my name - not an encouraging response - and of course I flushed tomato red. But at least he sent me to an empty desk at the back without introducing me to the class. It was harder for my new classmates to stare at me in the back, but somehow, they managed. I kept my eyes down on the reading list the teacher had given me. It was fairly basic: Bronte, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Faulkner. I'd already read everything. That was comforting... and boring. I wondered if my mom would send me my folder of old essays, or if she would think that was cheating. I went through different arguments with her in my head while the teacher droned on.**

**When the bell rang, a nasal buzzing sound, a gangly boy with skin problems and hair black as an oil slick leaned across the aisle to talk to me.**

**"You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?" He looked like the overly helpful, chess club type.**

**"Bella," I corrected. Everyone within a three-seat radius turned to look at me.**

**"Where's your next class?" he asked.**

**I had to check in my bag. "Um, Government, with Jefferson, in building six."**

**There was nowhere to look without meeting curious eyes.**

**"I'm headed toward building four, I could show you the way..." Definitely over-helpful.**

**"I'm Eric," he added.**

**I smiled tentatively. "Thanks."**

**We got our jackets and headed out into the rain, which had picked up. I could have sworn several people behind us were walking close enough to eavesdrop. I hoped I wasn't getting paranoid.**

**"So, this is a lot different than Phoenix, huh?" he asked.**

**"Very."**

**"It doesn't rain much there, does it?"**

**"Three or four times a year."**

**"Wow, what must that be like?" he wondered.**

**"Sunny," I told him.**

**"You don't look very tan."**

**"My mother is part albino."**

**He studied my face apprehensively, and I sighed. It looked like clouds and a sense of humor didn't mix. A few months of this and I'd forget how to use sarcasm.**

"NOOO! NOT THE SARCASM!"

"Kithrin. Shut up."

"Yes Kira."

**We walked back around the cafeteria, to the south buildings by the gym. Eric walked me right to the door, though it was clearly marked.**

**"Well, good luck," he said as I touched the handle. "Maybe we'll have some other classes together." He sounded hopeful.**

**I smiled at him vaguely and went inside.**

**The rest of the morning passed in about the same fashion. My Trigonometry teacher, Mr. Varner, who I would have hated anyway just because of the subject he taught, was the only one who made me stand in front of the class and introduce myself. I stammered, blushed, and tripped over my own boots on the way to my seat.**

"Ah, classic Bella."

"Jasper! Not you too!"

**After two classes, I started to recognize several of the faces in each class. There was always someone braver than the others who would introduce themselves and ask me questions about how I was liking Forks. I tried to be diplomatic, but mostly I just lied a lot. At least I never needed the map.**

**One girl sat next to me in both Trig and Spanish, and she walked with me to the cafeteria for lunch. She was tiny, several inches shorter than my five feet four inches, but her wildly curly dark hair made up a lot of the difference between our heights. I couldn't remember her name, so I smiled and nodded as she prattled about teachers and classes. I didn't try to keep up.**

**We sat at the end of a full table with several of her friends, who she introduced to me. I forgot all their names as soon as she spoke them. They seemed impressed by her bravery in speaking to me. The boy from English, Eric, waved at me from across the room.**

**It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers, that I first saw them.**

"Who?"

"Really, Quil? Wow."

"What?"

**They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where I sat as possible in the long room. There were five of them. They weren't talking, and they weren't eating, though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them. They weren't gawking at me, unlike most of the other students, so it was safe to stare at them without fear of meeting an excessively interested pair of eyes. But it was none of these things that caught, and held, my attention.**

**They didn't look anything alike. Of the three boys, one was big - muscled like a serious weight lifter, with dark, curly hair.**

"ME!"

"Congratulations, Emmett. You know what you look like."

**Another was taller, leaner, but still muscular, and honey blond.**

"That would be Jasper, right?"

"Yes."

**The last was lanky, less bulky, with untidy, bronze-colored hair.**

"Me."

"Yes. That's Edward. Can we stop interrupting now?"

**He was more boyish than the others, who looked like they could be in college, or even teachers here rather than students.**

**The girls were opposites. The tall one was statuesque. She had a beautiful figure, the kind you saw on the cover of the ****_Sports Illustrated_**** swimsuit issue, the kind that made every girl around her take a hit on her self-esteem just by being in the same room. Her hair was golden, gently waving to the middle of her back.**

"Aww, thank you Bella!"

"Welcome, Rose."

**The short girl was pixielike, thin in the extreme, with small features. Her hair was a deep black, cropped short and pointing in every direction.**

"Yay! That's me!"

"Yay! Everyone knows who they are! You can shut up now!"

"Your sister's mean, Seth."

"I know."

"Leah?"

"Kithrin?"

"I like you. You're funny."

"Thank you."

"I'm face palming, Kithrin."

"Ok, Kira."

**And yet, they were all exactly alike. Every one of them was chalky pale, the palest of all the students living in this sunless town. Paler than me, the albino. They all had very dark eyes despite the range in hair tones. They also had dark shadows under those eyes -purplish, bruiselike shadows. As if they were all suffering from a sleepless night, or almost done recovering from a broken nose. Though their noses, all their features, were straight, perfect, angular.**

**But all this is not why I couldn't look away.**

**I stared because their faces, so different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. They were faces you never expected to see except perhaps on the airbrushed pages of a fashion magazine. Or painted by an old master as the face of an angel. It was hard to decide who was the most beautiful - maybe the perfect blond girl, or the bronze-haired boy.**

**They were all looking away - away from each other, away from the other students, away from anything in particular as far as I could tell. As I watched, the small girl rose with her tray - unopened soda, unbitten apple - and walked away with a quick, graceful lope that belonged on a runway. I watched, amazed at her lithe dancer's step, till she dumped her tray and glided through the back door, faster than I would have thought possible. My eyes darted back to the others, who sat unchanging.**

**"Who are they?" I asked the girl from my Spanish class, whose name I'd forgotten.**

**As she looked up to see who I meant - though already knowing, probably, from my tone - suddenly he looked at her, the thinner one, the boyish one, the youngest, perhaps. He looked at my neighbor for just a fraction of a second, and then his dark eyes flickered to mine.**

**He looked away quickly, more quickly than I could, though in a flush of embarrassment I dropped my eyes at once. In that brief flash of a glance, his face held nothing of interest - it was as if she had called his name, and he'd looked up in involuntary response, already having decided not to answer.**

"Close."

**My neighbor giggled in embarrassment, looking at the table like I did.**

**"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one who left was Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." She said this under her breath.**

**I glanced sideways at the beautiful boy, who was looking at his tray now, picking a bagel to pieces with long, pale fingers. His mouth was moving very quickly, his perfect lips barely opening. The other three still looked away, and yet I felt he was speaking quietly to them.**

"Very intuitive."

"Alright, the next person to interrupt is getting attacked."

**Strange, unpopular names, I thought. The kinds of names grandparents had. But maybe that was in vogue here - small town names? I finally remembered that my neighbor was called Jessica, a perfectly common name. There were two girls named Jessica in my History class back home.**

**"They are... very nice-looking." I struggled with the conspicuous understatement.**

**"Yes!" Jessica agreed with another giggle. "They're all together though - Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they live together." Her voice held all the shock and condemnation of the small town, I thought critically. But, if I was being honest, I had to admit that even in Phoenix, it would cause gossip. "Which ones are the Cullens?" I asked. "They don't look related..."**

**"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales are brother and sister, twins - the blondes - and they're foster children."**

**"They look a little old for foster children."**

**"They are now, Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that."**

**"That's really kind of nice - for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything."**

**"I guess so," Jessica admitted reluctantly, and I got the impression that she didn't like the doctor and his wife for some reason. With the glances she was throwing at their adopted children, I would presume the reason was jealousy. "I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids, though," she added, as if that lessened their kindness.**

**Throughout all this conversation, my eyes flickered again and again to the table where the strange family sat. They continued to look at the walls and not eat.**

**"Have they always lived in Forks?" I asked. Surely I would have noticed them on one of my summers here.**

**"No," she said in a voice that implied it should be obvious, even to a new arrival like me. "They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska."**

**I felt a surge of pity, and relief. Pity because, as beautiful as they were, they were outsiders, clearly not accepted. Relief that I wasn't the only newcomer here, and certainly not the most interesting by any standard.**

**As I examined them, the youngest, one of the Cullens, looked up and met my gaze, this time with evident curiosity in his expression. As I looked swiftly away, it seemed to me that his glance held some kind of unmet expectation.**

**"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" I asked. I peeked at him from the corner of my eye, and he was still staring at me, but not gawking like the other students had today - he had a slightly frustrated expression. I looked down again.**

**"That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." She sniffed, a clear case of sour grapes. I wondered when he'd turned her down.**

**I bit my lip to hide my smile. Then I glanced at him again. His face was turned away, but I thought his cheek appeared lifted, as if he were smiling, too.**

**After a few more minutes, the four of them left the table together. They all were noticeably graceful - even the big, brawny one.**

"What do you mean, even?"

"THAT'S IT!"

"Go Leah!"

Time passes while Leah attacks Emmett, and, in the aftermath, the group had to be relocated to a different room.

**It was unsettling to watch. The one named Edward didn't look at me again.**

**I sat at the table with Jessica and her friends longer than I would have if I'd been sitting alone. I was anxious not to be late for class on my first day. One of my new acquaintances, who considerately reminded me that her name was Angela, had Biology II with me the next hour. We walked to class together in silence. She was shy, too.**

**When we entered the classroom, Angela went to sit at a black-topped lab table exactly like the ones I was used to. She already had a neighbor. In fact, all the tables were filled but one. Next to the center aisle, I recognized Edward Cullen by his unusual hair, sitting next to that single open seat.**

**As I walked down the aisle to introduce myself to the teacher and get my slip signed, I was watching him surreptitiously. Just as I passed, he suddenly went rigid in his seat. He stared at me again, meeting my eyes with the strangest expression on his face - it was hostile, furious. I looked away quickly, shocked, going red again. I stumbled over a book in the walkway and had to catch myself on the edge of a table. The girl sitting there giggled.**

**I'd noticed that his eyes were black - coal black.**

**Mr. Banner signed my slip and handed me a book with no nonsense about introductions. I could tell we were going to get along. Of course, he had no choice but to send me to the one open seat in the middle of the room. I kept my eyes down as I went to sit by ****_him_****, bewildered by the antagonistic stare he'd given me.**

**I didn't look up as I set my book on the table and took my seat, but I saw his posture change from the corner of my eye. He was leaning away from me, sitting on the extreme edge of his chair and averting his face like he smelled something bad. Inconspicuously, I sniffed my hair. It smelled like strawberries, the scent of my favorite shampoo. It seemed an innocent enough odor. I let my hair fall over my right shoulder, making a dark curtain between us, and tried to pay attention to the teacher.**

"That really didn't help."

"Sorry."

**Unfortunately the lecture was on cellular anatomy, something I'd already studied. I took notes carefully anyway, always looking down.**

**I couldn't stop myself from peeking occasionally through the screen of my hair at the strange boy next to me. During the whole class, he never relaxed his stiff position on the edge of his chair, sitting as far from me as possible. I could see his hand on his left leg was clenched into a fist, tendons standing out under his pale skin. This, too, he never relaxed. He had the long sleeves of his white shirt pushed up to his elbows, and his forearm was surprisingly hard and muscular beneath his light skin. He wasn't nearly as slight as he'd looked next to his burly brother.**

**The class seemed to drag on longer than the others. Was it because the day was finally coming to a close, or because I was waiting for his tight fist to loosen? It never did; he continued to sit so still it looked like he wasn't breathing. What was wrong with him? Was this his normal behavior? I questioned my judgment on Jessica's bitterness at lunch today. Maybe she was not as resentful as I'd thought.**

**It couldn't have anything to do with me. He didn't know me from Eve.**

**I peeked up at him one more time, and regretted it. He was glaring down at me again, his black eyes full of revulsion. As I flinched away from him, shrinking against my chair, the phrase ****_if looks could kill_**** suddenly ran through my mind. At that moment, the bell rang loudly, making me jump, and Edward Cullen was out of his seat. Fluidly he rose - he was much taller than I'd thought - his back to me, and he was out the door before anyone else was out of their seat.**

**I sat frozen in my seat, staring blankly after him. He was so mean. It wasn't fair. I began gathering up my things slowly, trying to block the anger that filled me, for fear my eyes would tear up. For some reason, my temper was hardwired to my tear ducts. I usually cried when I was angry, a humiliating tendency.**

"I thought it was cute."

**"Aren't you Isabella Swan?" a male voice asked.**

**I looked up to see a cute, baby-faced boy, his pale blond hair carefully gelled into orderly spikes, smiling at me in a friendly way. He obviously didn't think I smelled bad.**

**"Bella," I corrected him, with a smile.**

**"I'm Mike."**

**"Hi, Mike."**

**"Do you need any help finding your next class?"**

**"I'm headed to the gym, actually. I think I can find it."**

**"That's my next class, too." He seemed thrilled, though it wasn't that big of a coincidence in a school this small.**

**We walked to class together; he was a chatterer - he supplied most of the conversation, which made it easy for me. He'd lived in California till he was ten, so he knew how I felt about the sun. It turned out he was in my English class also. He was the nicest person I'd met today.**

**But as we were entering the gym, he asked, "So, did you stab Edward Cullen with a pencil or what? I've never seen him act like that."**

**I cringed. So I wasn't the only one who had noticed. And, apparently, that wasn't Edward Cullen's usual behavior. I decided to play dumb.**

**"Was that the boy I sat next to in Biology?" I asked artlessly.**

**"Yes," he said. "He looked like he was in pain or something."**

**"I don't know," I responded. "I never spoke to him."**

**"He's a weird guy." Mike lingered by me instead of heading to the dressing room. "If I were lucky enough to sit by you, I would have talked to you."**

**I smiled at him before walking through the girls' locker room door. He was friendly and clearly admiring. But it wasn't enough to ease my irritation.**

**The Gym teacher, Coach Clapp, found me a uniform but didn't make me dress down for today's class. At home, only two years of PE. was required. Here, P.E. was mandatory all four years. Forks was literally my personal hell on Earth.**

**I watched four volleyball games running simultaneously. Remembering how many injuries I had sustained - and inflicted - playing volleyball, I felt faintly nauseated.**

**The final bell rang at last. I walked slowly to the office to return my paperwork. The rain had drifted away, but the wind was strong, and colder. I wrapped my arms around myself.**

**When I walked into the warm office, I almost turned around and walked back out.**

**Edward Cullen stood at the desk in front of me. I recognized again that tousled bronze hair. He didn't appear to notice the sound of my entrance. I stood pressed against the back wall, waiting for the receptionist to be free.**

**He was arguing with her in a low, attractive voice. I quickly picked up the gist of the argument. He was trying to trade from sixth-hour Biology to another time - any other time.**

**I just couldn't believe that this was about me. It had to be something else, something that happened before I entered the Biology room. The look on his face must have been about another aggravation entirely. It was impossible that this stranger could take such a sudden, intense dislike to me.**

**The door opened again, and the cold wind suddenly gusted through the room, rustling the papers on the desk, swirling my hair around my face. The girl who came in merely stepped to the desk, placed a note in the wire basket, and walked out again. But Edward Cullen's back stiffened, and he turned slowly to glare at me - his face was absurdly handsome - with piercing, hate-filled eyes. For an instant, I felt a thrill of genuine fear, raising the hair on my arms. The look only lasted a second, but it chilled me more than the freezing wind. He turned back to the receptionist.**

**"Never mind, then," he said hastily in a voice like velvet. "I can see that it's impossible. Thank you so much for your help." And he turned on his heel without another look at me, and disappeared out the door.**

**I went meekly to the desk, my face white for once instead of red, and handed her the signed slip.**

**"How did your first day go, dear?" the receptionist asked maternally.**

**"Fine," I lied, my voice weak. She didn't look convinced.**

**When I got to the truck, it was almost the last car in the lot. It seemed like a haven, already the closest thing to home I had in this damp green hole. I sat inside for a while, just staring out the windshield blankly. But soon I was cold enough to need the heater, so I turned the key and the engine roared to life. I headed back to Charlie's house, fighting tears the whole way there.**

"Our poor Bella! We all love you. Edwards just a meanie!"

"Emmett, didn't Leah tell you to shut up?"

* * *

So. I want to start another RTB, but... I can't pick. So, you do it.

Hunger Games, Mortal Instruments/Infernal Devices, Percy Jackson/Heroes Of Olympus, Kane Chronicles, 39 Clues, or Harry Potter.

That list seemed shorter in my head.

Anyway, I have an idea for Hunger Games MI/ID, and PJ/HoO, but I don't know which to do.

As both PJ and HoO are set in the same universe, they will be the same story.

Same with MI/ID.

Also, KIRA! EMAIL ME BACK!


	4. Book One - Chapter Two

Chapter Two - Open Book

Keeping with the clockwise reading, Esme passed the book to Bella, who grimaced and turned the page.

"Chapter two, Open book."

**The next day was better... ****And ****worse. **

**It was better because it wasn't raining yet, though the clouds were dense and opaque. It was easier because I knew what to expect of my day. Mike came to sit by me in English, and walked me to my next class, with Chess Club Eric glaring at him all the while; that was nattering. People didn't look at me quite as much as they had yesterday. I sat with a big group at lunch that included Mike, Eric, Jessica, and several other people whose names and faces I now remembered. I began to feel like I was treading water, instead of drowning in it. **

**It was worse because I was tired; I still couldn't sleep with the wind echoing around the house. It was worse because Mr. Varner called on me in Trig when my hand wasn't raised and I had the wrong answer. It was miserable because I had to play volleyball, and the one time I didn't cringe out of the way of the ball, I hit my teammate in the head with it. And it was worse because Edward Cullen wasn't in school at all. **

"Sorry, Bella."

"It's alright. I understand now."

**All morning I was dreading lunch, fearing his bizarre glares. Part of me wanted to confront him and demand to know what his problem was. While I was lying sleepless in my bed, I even imagined what I would say. But I knew myself too well to think I would really have the guts to do it. I made the Cowardly Lion look like the terminator. **

"That you do."

"Shut up, Jacob. I'm reading."

**But when I walked into the cafeteria with Jessica - trying to keep my eyes from sweeping the place for him, and failing entirely - I saw that his four siblings of sorts were sitting together at the same table, and he was not with them. **

**Mike intercepted us and steered us to his table. Jessica seemed elated by the attention, and her friends quickly joined us. But as I tried to listen to their easy chatter, I was terribly uncomfortable, waiting nervously for the moment he would arrive. I hoped that he would simply ignore me when he came, and prove my suspicions false. **

**He didn't come, and as time passed I grew more and more tense. **

**I walked to Biology with more confidence when, by the end of lunch, he still hadn't showed. Mike, who was taking on the qualities of a golden retriever, walked faithfully by my side to class. I held my breath at the door, but Edward Cullen wasn't there, either. I exhaled and went to my seat. Mike followed, talking about an upcoming trip to the beach. He lingered by my desk till the bell rang. Then he smiled at me wistfully and went to sit by a girl with braces and a bad perm. It looked like I was going to have to do something about Mike, and it wouldn't be easy. In a town like this, where everyone lived on top of everyone else, diplomacy was essential. I had never been enormously tactful; I had no practice dealing with overly friendly boys. **

"So that's why you didn't make him leave you."

"Yep."

**I was relieved that I had the desk to myself, that Edward was absent. I told myself that repeatedly. But I couldn't get rid of the nagging suspicion that I was the reason he wasn't there. It was ridiculous, and egotistical, to think that I could affect anyone that strongly. It was impossible. And yet I couldn't stop worrying that it was true. **

**When the school day was finally done, and the blush was fading out of my cheeks from the volleyball incident, I changed quickly back into my jeans and navy blue sweater. I hurried from the girls' locker room, pleased to find that I had successfully evaded my retriever friend for the moment. I walked swiftly out to the parking lot. It was crowded now with fleeing students. I got in my truck and dug through my bag to make sure I had what I needed. **

**Last night I'd discovered that Charlie couldn't cook much besides fried eggs and bacon. **

"I'm learning!"

"But you weren't then."

**So I requested that I be assigned kitchen detail for the duration of my stay. He was willing enough to hand over the keys to the banquet hall. I also found out that he had no food in the house. So I had my shopping list and the cash from the jar in the cupboard labeled FOOD MONEY, and I was on my way to the Thriftway. **

**I gunned my deafening engine to life, ignoring the heads that turned in my direction, and backed carefully into a place in the line of cars that were waiting to exit the parking lot. As I waited, trying to pretend that the earsplitting rumble was coming from someone else's car, I saw the two Cullens and the Hale twins getting into their car. It was the shiny new Volvo. Of course. I hadn't noticed their clothes before - I'd been too mesmerized by their faces. Now that I looked, it was obvious that they were all dressed exceptionally well; simply, but in clothes that subtly hinted at designer origins. With their remarkable good looks, the style with which they carried themselves, they could have worn dishrags and pulled it off. **

"Like Alice would let us try."

"Not just Alice. Rose wouldn't either."

**It seemed excessive for them to have both looks and money. But as far as I could tell, life worked that way most of the time. It didn't look as if it bought them any acceptance here. **

**No, I didn't fully believe that. The isolation must be their desire; I couldn't imagine any door that wouldn't be opened by that degree of beauty. **

**They looked at my noisy truck as I passed them, just like everyone else. I kept my eyes straight forward and was relieved when I finally was free of the school grounds. **

**The Thriftway was not far from the school, just a few streets south, off the highway. It was nice to be inside the supermarket; it felt normal. I did the shopping at home, and I fell into the pattern of the familiar task gladly. The store was big enough inside that I couldn't hear the tapping of the rain on the roof to remind me where I was. **

**When I got home, I unloaded all the groceries, stuffing them in wherever I could find an open space. I hoped Charlie wouldn't mind. I wrapped potatoes in foil and stuck them in the oven to bake, covered a steak in marinade and balanced it on top of a carton of eggs in the fridge. **

**When I was finished with that, I took my book bag upstairs. Before starting my homework, I changed into a pair of dry sweats, pulled my damp hair up into a pony-tail, and checked my e-mail for the first time. I had three messages.**

**"Bella," my mom wrote... **

**_Write me as soon as you get in. Tell me how your flight was. Is it raining? I miss you already. I'm almost finished packing for Florida, but I can't find my pink blouse. Do you know where I put it? Phil says hi. Mom. _**

**I sighed and went to the next. It was sent eight hours after the first.**

**"Bella," she wrote... **

**_Why haven't you e-mailed me yet? What are you waiting for? Mom. _**

**The last was from this morning. **

**_Isabella, _**

**_If I haven't heard from you by 5:30 p.m. _****_today _****_I'm calling Charlie._**

**I checked the clock. I still had an hour, but my mom was well known for jumping the gun. **

**_Mom, _**

**_Calm down. I'm writing right now. Don't do anything rash. _**

**_Bella._**

**I sent that, and began again. **

**_Mom, _**

**_Everything is great. Of course it's raining. I was waiting for something to write about. School isn't bad, just a little repetitive. I met some nice kids who sit by me at lunch. _**

**_Your blouse is at the dry cleaners - you were supposed to pick it up Friday._**

**_Charlie bought me a truck, can you believe it? I love it. It's old, but really sturdy, which is good, you know, for me._**

**_I miss you, too. I'll write again soon, but I'm not going to check my e-mail every five minutes. Relax, breathe. I love you. _**

**_Bella. _**

**I had decided to read ****_Wuthering Heights_**** - the novel we were currently studying in English - yet again for the fun of it, and that's what I was doing when Charlie came home. I'd lost track of the time, and I hurried downstairs to take the potatoes out and put the steak in to broil.**

**"Bella?" my father called out when he heard me on the stairs. **

**Who else? I thought to myself. **

**"Hey, Dad, welcome home." **

**"Thanks." He hung up his gun belt and stepped out of his boots as I bustled about the kitchen. As far as I was aware, he'd never shot the gun on the job. But he kept it ready. When I came here as a child, he would always remove the bullets as soon as he walked in the door. I guess he considered me old enough now not to shoot myself by accident, and not depressed enough to shoot myself on purpose.**

"Did you take them out when she was depressed?

"Yes, I did, Kithrin."

**"What's for dinner?" he asked warily. My mother was an imaginative cook, and her experiments weren't always edible. I was surprised, and sad, that he seemed to remember that far back. **

"Hard to forget."

"True."

**"Steak and potatoes," I answered, and he looked relieved. **

**He seemed to feel awkward standing in the kitchen doing nothing; he lumbered into the living room to watch TV while I worked. We were both more comfortable that way. I made a salad while the steaks cooked, and set the table. **

**I called him in when dinner was ready, and he sniffed appreciatively as he walked into the room. **

**"Smells good, Bell." **

**"Thanks." **

**We ate in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't uncomfortable. Neither of us was bothered by the quiet. In some ways, we were well suited for living together. **

**"So, how did you like school? Have you made any friends?" he asked as he was taking seconds. **

**"Well, I have a few classes with a girl named Jessica. I sit with her friends at lunch. And there's this boy, Mike, who's very friendly. Everybody seems pretty nice." With one outstanding exception. **

**"That must be Mike Newton. Nice kid - nice family. His dad owns the sporting goods store just outside of town. He makes a good living off all the backpackers who come through here."**

**"Do you know the Cullen family?" I asked hesitantly. **

**"Dr. Cullen's family? Sure. Dr. Cullen's a great man." **

**"They... ****The ****kids... ****Are ****a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school." **

**Charlie surprised me by looking angry.**

**"People in this town," he muttered. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here," he continued, getting louder. "We're lucky to have him - lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all of those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature - I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family should - camping trips every other weekend... Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk." **

"Thank you, Charlie."

"You're welcome."

**It was the longest speech I'd ever heard Charlie make. He must feel strongly about whatever people were saying. **

**I backpedaled. "They seemed nice enough to me. I just noticed they kept to themselves. They're all very attractive," I added, trying to be more complimentary. **

**"You should see the doctor," Charlie said, laughing. "It's a good thing he's happily married. A lot of the nurses at the hospital have a hard time concentrating on their work with him around." **

"Oh, really?" Esme's face, though still smiling from the book-Charlie's words, had gone shockingly hard.

Leah leaned over to Jacob. "I sense many terrified nurses in the hospital's future."

It took all of Jacob's self-control not to burst out laughing and attract Esme's attention.

**We lapsed back into silence as we finished eating. He cleared the table while I started on the dishes. He went back to the TV, and after I finished washing the dishes by hand - no dishwasher - I went upstairs unwillingly to work on my math homework. I could feel a tradition in the making.**

**That night it was finally quiet. I fell asleep quickly, exhausted. **

**The rest of the week was uneventful. I got used to the routine of my classes. By Friday I was able to recognize, if not name, almost all the students at school. In Gym, the kids on my team learned not to pass me the ball and to step quickly in front of me if the other team tried to take advantage of my weakness. I happily stayed out of their way. **

"Smart."

"Emmett, shut up."

**Edward Cullen didn't come back to school.**

**Every day, I watched anxiously until the rest of the Cullens entered the cafeteria without him. Then I could relax and join in the lunchtime conversation. Mostly it centered around a trip to the La Push Ocean Park in two weeks that Mike was putting together.**

"Two weeks until I come in! Yay!"

"Wait, what chapter is that?"

"Six. Jasper will read it."

"Thank you, Kithrin."

**I was invited, and I had agreed to go, more out of politeness than desire. Beaches should be hot and dry. **

**By Friday I was perfectly comfortable entering my Biology class, no longer worried that Edward would be there. For all I knew, he had dropped out of school. I tried not to think about him, but I couldn't totally suppress the worry that I was responsible for his continued absence, ridiculous as it seemed. **

**My first weekend in Forks passed without incident. Charlie, unused to spending time in the usually empty house, worked most of the weekend. I cleaned the house, got ahead on my homework, and wrote my mom more bogusly cheerful e-mail. I did drive to the library Saturday, but it was so poorly stocked that I didn't bother to get a card; I would have to make a date to visit Olympia or Seattle soon and find a good bookstore. I wondered idly what kind of gas mileage the truck got... ****and ****shuddered at the thought. **

**The rain stayed soft over the weekend, quiet, so I was able to sleep well. **

**People greeted me in the parking lot Monday morning. I didn't know all their names, but I waved back and smiled at everyone. It was colder this morning, but happily not raining. In English, Mike took his accustomed seat by my side. We had a pop quiz on Wuthering Heights. It was straightforward, very easy. **

**All in all, I was feeling a lot more comfortable than I had thought I would feel by this point. More comfortable than I had ever expected to feel here. **

**When we walked out of class, the air was full of swirling bits of white. I could hear people shouting excitedly to each other. The wind bit at my cheeks, my nose. **

**"Wow," Mike said. "It's snowing." **

**I looked at the little cotton fluffs that were building up along the sidewalk and swirling erratically past my face. **

**"Ew."Snow. There went my good day. **

**He looked surprised. "Don't you like snow?" **

**"No. That means it's too cold for rain." Obviously. "Besides, I thought it was supposed to come down in flakes - you know, each one unique and all that. These just look like the ends of Q-tips."**

**"Haven't you ever seen snow fall before?" he asked incredulously. **

**"Sure I have." I paused." On TV." **

**Mike laughed. And then a big, squishy ball of dripping snow smacked into the back of his head. We both turned to see where it came from. I had my suspicions about Eric, who was walking away, his back toward us - in the wrong direction for his next class. **

"Very non-suspicious."

**Mike apparently had the same notion. He bent over and began scraping together a pile of the white mush. **

**"****I'll ****see you at lunch, okay?" I kept walking as I spoke. "Once people start throwing wet stuff, I go inside." **

**He just nodded, his eyes on Eric's retreating figure.**

**Throughout the morning, everyone chattered excitedly about the snow; apparently it was the first snowfall of the new year. I kept my mouth shut. Sure, it was drier than rain - until it melted in your socks.**

**I walked alertly to the cafeteria with Jessica after Spanish. Mush balls were flying everywhere. I kept a binder in my hands, ready to use it as a shield if necessary. Jessica thought I was hilarious, but something in my expression kept her from lobbing a snowball at me herself.**

**Mike caught up to us as we walked in the doors, laughing, with ice melting the spikes in his hair. He and Jessica were talking animatedly about the snow fight as we got in line to buy food. I glanced toward that table in the corner out of habit. And then I froze where I stood. There were five people at the table. **

**Jessica pulled on my arm. **

**"Hello? Bella? What do you want?"**

**I looked down; my ears were hot. I had no reason to feel self-conscious, I reminded myself. I hadn't done anything wrong. **

**"What's with Bella?" Mike asked Jessica. **

**"Nothing," I answered. "****I'll ****just get a soda today." I caught up to the end of the line. **

**"Aren't you hungry?" Jessica asked. **

**"Actually, I feel a little sick," I said, my eyes still on the floor. I waited for them to get their food, and then followed them to a table, my eyes on my feet. I sipped my soda slowly, my stomach churning. Twice Mike asked, with unnecessary concern, how I was feeling. I told him it was nothing, but I was wondering if I should play it up and escape to the nurse's office for the next hour. **

**Ridiculous. I shouldn't have to run away. **

**I decided to permit myself one glance at the Cullen family's table. If he was glaring at me, I would skip Biology, like the coward I was. **

**I kept my head down and glanced up under my lashes. None of them were looking this way. I lifted my head a little. **

**They were laughing. Edward, Jasper, and Emmett all had their hair entirely saturated with melting snow. Alice and Rosalie were leaning away as Emmett shook his dripping hair toward them. They were enjoying the snowy day, just like everyone else - only they looked more like a scene from a movie than the rest of us.**

"Alice set that up."

**But, aside from the laughter and playfulness, there was something different, and I couldn't quite pinpoint what that difference was. I examined Edward the most carefully. His skin was less pale, I decided - flushed from the snow fight maybe - the circles under his eyes much less noticeable. But there was something more. I pondered, staring, trying to isolate the change. **

**"Bella, what are you staring at?" Jessica intruded, her eyes following my stare. **

**At that precise moment, his eyes flashed over to meet mine. **

**I dropped my head, letting my hair fall to conceal my face. I was sure, though, in the instant our eyes met, that he didn't look harsh or unfriendly as he had the last time I'd seen him. He looked merely curious again, unsatisfied in some way. **

**"Edward Cullen is staring at you," Jessica giggled in my ear.**

**"He doesn't look angry, does he?" I couldn't help asking. **

**"No," she said, sounding confused by my question. "Should he be?"**

**"I don't think he likes me," I confided. I still felt queasy. I put my head down on my arm. **

**"The Cullens don't like anybody... ****well****, they don't notice anybody enough to like them. But he's still staring at you." **

**"Stop looking at him," I hissed. **

**She snickered, but she looked away. I raised my head enough to make sure that she did, contemplating violence if she resisted. **

**Mike interrupted us then - he was planning an epic battle of the blizzard in the parking lot after school and wanted us to join. Jessica agreed enthusiastically. The way she looked at Mike left little doubt that she would be up for anything he suggested. I kept silent. I would have to hide in the gym until the parking lot cleared.**

**For the rest of the lunch hour I very carefully kept my eyes at my own table. I decided to honor the bargain I'd made with myself. Since he didn't look angry, I would go to Biology. My stomach did frightened little flips at the thought of sitting next to him again. **

**I didn't really want to walk to class with Mike as usual - he seemed to be a popular target for the snowball snipers - but when we went to the door, everyone besides me groaned in unison. It was raining, washing all traces of the snow away in clear, icy ribbons down the side of the walkway. I pulled my hood up, secretly pleased. I would be free to go straight home after Gym.**

**Mike kept up a string of complaints on the way to building four. **

**Once inside the classroom, I saw with relief tha****t my table was still empty. Mr. ****Banner was walking around the room, distributing one microscope and box of slides to each table. Class didn't start for a few minutes, and the room buzzed with conversation. I kept my eyes away from the door, doodling idly on the cover of my notebook. **

**I heard very clearly when the chair next to me moved, but my eyes stayed carefully focused on the pattern I was drawing. **

**"Hello," said a quiet, musical voice. **

**I looked up, stunned that he was speaking to me. He was sitting as far away from me as the desk allowed, but his chair was angled toward me. His hair was dripping wet, disheveled - even so, he looked like he'd just finished shooting a commercial for hair gel. His dazzling face was friendly, open, a slight smile on his flawless lips. But his eyes were careful. **

"Nice. Not many people would have noticed that."

"Thank you, Edward."

**"My name is Edward Cullen," he continued. "I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Bella Swan." My mind was spinning with confusion. Had I made up the whole thing? He was perfectly polite now. I had to speak; he was waiting. But I couldn't think of anything conventional to say.**

**"H-how do you know my name?" I stammered. **

**He laughed a soft, enchanting laugh. **

**"Oh, I think everyone knows your name. The whole town's been waiting for you to arrive." I grimaced. I knew it was something like that. **

**"No," I persisted stupidly. "I meant, why did you call me Bella?"**

**He seemed confused. "Do you prefer Isabella?" **

**"No, I like Bella," I said. "But I think Charlie - I mean my dad - must call me Isabella behind my back - that's what everyone here seems to know me as," I tried to explain, feeling like an utter moron.**

**"Oh." He let it drop. I looked away awkwardly. **

**Thankfully, Mr. Banner started class at that moment. I tried to concentrate as he explained the lab we would be doing today. The slides in the box were out of order. Working as lab partners, we had to separate the slides of onion root tip cells into the phases of mitosis they represented and label them accordingly. We weren't supposed to use our books. In twenty minutes, he would be coming around to see who had it right.**

**"Get started," he commanded. **

**"****Ladies first, partner?" Edward asked. I looked up to see him smiling a crooked smile so beautiful that I could only stare at him like an idiot. **

**"Or I could start, if you wish." The smile faded; he was obviously wondering if I was mentally competent. **

**"No," I said, flushing. "****I'll ****go ahead." **

**I was showing off, just a little. I'd already done this lab, and I knew what I was looking for. It should be easy. I snapped the first slide into place under the microscope and adjusted it quickly to the 40X objective. I studied the slide briefly. **

**My assessment was confident." Prophase." **

**"Do you mind if I look?" he asked as I began to remove the slide. His hand caught mine, to stop me, as he asked. His fingers were ice-cold, like he'd been holding them in a snowdrift before class. But that wasn't why I jerked my hand away so quickly. When he touched me, it stung my hand as if an electric current had passed through us. **

**"I'm sorry," he muttered, pulling his hand back immediately. However, he continued to reach for the microscope. I watched him, still staggered, as he examined the slide for an even shorter time than I had. **

**"Prophase," he agreed, writing it neatly in the first space on our worksheet. He swiftly switched out the first slide for the second, and then glanced at it cursorily. **

**"Anaphase," he murmured, writing it down as he spoke. **

**I kept my voice indifferent. "May I?" **

**He smirked and pushed the microscope to me. **

**I looked through the eyepiece eagerly, only to be disappointed. Dang it, he was right. **

**"Slide three?" I held out my hand without looking at him. **

**He handed it to me; it seemed like he was being careful not to touch my skin again. **

**I took the most fleeting look I could manage. **

**"Interphase." I passed him the microscope before he could ask for it. He took a swift peek, and then wrote it down. I would have written it while he looked, but his clear, elegant script intimidated me. I didn't want to spoil the page with my clumsy scrawl. **

**We were finished before anyone else was close. I could see Mike and his partner comparing two slides again and again, and another group had their book open under the table. **

**Which left me with nothing to do but try to not look at him... ****Unsuccessfully****. I glanced up, and he was staring at me, that same inexplicable look of frustration in his eyes. Suddenly I identified that subtle difference in his face. **

**"Did you get contacts?" I blurted out unthinkingly.**

**He seemed puzzled by my unexpected question. "No." **

**"Oh," I mumbled. "I thought there was something different about your eyes." **

**He shrugged, and looked away. **

"I was mad at myself for not realizing the point of the question."

**In fact, I was sure there was something different. I vividly remembered the flat black color of his eyes the last time he'd glared at me - the color was striking against the background of his pale skin and his auburn hair. Today, his eyes were a completely different color: a strange ocher, darker than butterscotch, but with the same golden tone. I didn't understand how that could be, unless he was lying for some reason about the contacts. Or maybe Forks was making me crazy in the literal sense of the word. **

**I looked down. His hands were clenched into hard fists again. **

**Mr. Banner came to our table then, to see why we weren't working. He looked over our shoulders to glance at the completed lab, and then stared more intently to check the answers. **

**"So, Edward, didn't you think Isabella should get a chance with the microscope?" Mr. Banner asked.**

**"Bella," Edward corrected automatically. "Actually, she identified three of the five." **

**Mr. Banner looked at me now; his expression was skeptical. **

**"Have you done this lab before?" he asked. **

**I smiled sheepishly. "Not with onion root." **

**"Whitefish blastula?" **

**"Yeah." **

**Mr. Banner nodded. "Were you in an advanced placement program in Phoenix?" **

**"Yes." **

**"Well," he said after a moment, "I guess ****its****good you two are lab partners." He mumbled something else as he walked away. After he left, I began doodling on my notebook again. **

"He said 'So the other kids can get a chance to learn something for themselves.'"

**"It's too bad about the snow, isn't it?" Edward asked. I had the feeling that he was forcing himself to make small talk with me. Paranoia swept over me again. It was like he had heard my conversation with Jessica at lunch and was trying to prove me wrong. **

**"Not really," I answered honestly, instead of pretending to be normal like everyone else. I was still trying to dislodge the stupid feeling of suspicion, and I couldn't concentrate. **

**"You don't like the cold." It wasn't a question. **

**"Or the wet." **

**"Forks must be a difficult place for you to live," he mused. **

**"You have no idea," I muttered darkly. He looked fascinated by what I said, for some reason I couldn't imagine. His face was such a distraction that I tried not to look at it any more than courtesy absolutely demanded. **

**"Why did you come here, then?" No one had asked me that - not straight out like he did, demanding. **

**"It's... ****complicated****."**

**"I think I can keep up," he pressed. **

**I paused for a long moment, and then made the mistake of meeting his gaze. His dark gold eyes confused me, and I answered without thinking. **

**"My mother got remarried," I said.**

**"That doesn't sound so complex," he disagreed, but he was suddenly sympathetic. "When did that happen?" **

**"Last September." My voice sounded sad, even to me. **

**"And you don't like him," Edward surmised, his tone still kind. **

**"No, Phil is fine. Too young, maybe, but nice enough." **

**"Why didn't you stay with them?" **

**I couldn't fathom his interest, but he continued to stare at me with penetrating eyes, as if my dull life's story was somehow vitally important. **

**"Phil travels a lot. He plays ball for a living." I half-smiled. **

**"Have I heard of him?" he asked, smiling in response. **

**"Probably not. He doesn't play ****_well_****. Strictly minor league. He moves around a lot." **

**"And your mother sent you here so that she could travel with him." He said it as an assumption again, not a question. **

"You confused me."

"I would say sorry, but I'm not."

**My chin raised a fraction." No, she did not send me here. I sent myself." **

**His eyebrows knit together. "I don't understand," he admitted, and he seemed unnecessarily frustrated by that fact. **

**I sighed. Why was I explaining this to him? He continued to stare at me with obvious curiosity. **

**"She stayed with me at first, but she missed him. It made her unhappy... ****So ****I decided it was time to spend some quality time with Charlie." My voice was glum by the time I finished. **

**"But now you're unhappy," he pointed out. **

**"And?" I challenged. **

**"That doesn't seem fair." He shrugged, but his eyes were still intense. **

**I laughed without humor. "Hasn't anyone ever told you? Life isn't fair." **

**"I believe I have heard that somewhere before," he agreed dryly. **

**"So that's all," I insisted, wondering why he was still staring at me that way.**

**His gaze became appraising. "You put on a good show," he said slowly. "But I'd be willing to bet that you're suffering more than you let anyone see." **

**I grimaced at him, resisting the impulse to stick out my tongue like a five-year-old, and looked away. **

"Would have been funny if you did."

**"Am I wrong?" **

**I tried to ignore him. **

**"I didn't think so," he murmured smugly. **

**"Why does it matter to you?" I asked, irritated. I kept my eyes away, watching the teacher make his rounds. **

**"That's a very good question," he muttered, so quietly that I wondered if he was talking to himself. However, after a few seconds of silence, I decided that was the only answer I was going to get. **

**I sighed, scowling at the blackboard. **

**"Am I annoying you?" he asked. He sounded amused. **

"I was."

**I glanced at him without thinking... ****And ****told the truth again." Not exactly. I'm more annoyed at myself. My face is so easy to read - my mother always calls me her open book." I frowned. **

**"On the contrary, I find you very difficult to read." Despite everything that I'd said and he'd guessed, he sounded like he meant it. **

**"You must be a good reader then," I replied. **

**"Usually." He smiled widely, flashing a set of perfect, ****ultra****white teeth.**

**Mr. Banner called the class to order then, and I turned with relief to listen. I was in disbelief that I'd just explained my dreary life to this bizarre, beautiful boy who may or may not despise me. **

"Not."

"Edward! Shut up!"

"Yes Kira."

**He'd seemed engrossed in our conversation, but now I could see, from the corner of my eye, that he was leaning away from me again, his hands gripping the edge of the table with unmistakable tension. **

**I tried to appear attentive as Mr. Banner illustrated, with transparencies on the overhead projector, what I had seen without difficulty through the microscope. But my thoughts were unmanageable. **

**When the bell finally rang, Edward rushed as swiftly and as gracefully from the room as he had last Monday. And, like last Monday, I stared after him in amazement. **

**Mike skipped quickly to my side and picked up my books for me. I imagined him with a wagging tail. **

Edward opened his mouth to comment, met Kira's glare, and closed it.

**"That was awful," he groaned. "They all looked exactly the same. You're lucky you had Cullen for a partner."**

**"I didn't have any trouble with it," I said, stung by his assumption. I regretted the snub instantly. "****I've ****done the lab before, though," I added before he could get his feelings hurt. **

**"Cullen seemed friendly enough today," he commented as we shrugged into our raincoats. He didn't seem pleased about it. **

**I tried to sound indifferent. "I wonder what was with him last Monday."**

**I couldn't concentrate on Mike's chatter as we walked to Gym, and PE didn't do much to hold my attention, either. Mike was on my team today. He chivalrously covered my position as well as his own, so my woolgathering was only interrupted when it was my turn to serve; my team ducked warily out of the way every time I was up.**

**The rain was just a mist as I walked to the parking lot, but I was happier when I was in the dry cab. I got the heater running, for once not caring about the mind-numbing roar of the engine. I unzipped my jacket, put the hood down, and fluffed my damp hair out so the heater could dry it on the way home. **

**I looked around me to make sure it was clear. That's when I noticed the still, white figure. Edward Cullen was leaning against the front door of the Volvo, three cars down from me, and staring intently in my direction. I swiftly looked away and threw the truck into reverse, almost hitting a rusty Toyota Corolla in my haste. Lucky for the Toyota, I stomped on the brake in time. It was just the sort of car that my truck would make scrap metal of. I took a deep breath, still looking out the other side of my car, and cautiously pulled out again, with greater success. I stared straight ahead as I passed the Volvo, but from a peripheral peek, I would swear I saw him laughing.**


	5. Book One - Chapter Three

**Anonymous reviewer Crystal: Thank you for pointing out that this chapter was wrong. I have the chapter still, so here's that.**

* * *

Chapter Three - Phenomenon

Bella looked at her chuckling husband. "What are you laughing about?"

"The memory; you looked like an angry kitten!"

Bella's response to this statement was to smack Edward upside the head. "Read."

"Yes Bella."

"Wait." Sam stood up. Charlie looked at him, surprised. Sam hadn't said anything, so he'd kind of been forgotten. "Before we start the next chapter." He named off the six members of the pack that have not been named, Alex, Brady and Collin. "Patrols. Now."

"Fine. Bye everyone." They left.

**When I opened my eyes in the morning, something was different.**

"If it's a new day, things change, Bella."

"One line in, and Jacob's already being a dumbass."

"Leah! No cussing while we're reading the godsdamned book!"

"Kithrin?"

"Yes Kira?"

"Shut up."

"Yes Kira."

**It was the light. It was still the gray-green light of a cloudy day in the forest, but it was clearer somehow. I realized there was no fog veiling my window.**

**I jumped up to look outside, and then groaned in horror.**

**A fine layer of snow covered the yard, dusted the top of my truck, and whitened the road. But that wasn't the worst part. All the rain from yesterday had frozen solid - coating the needles on the trees in fantastic, gorgeous patterns, and making the driveway a deadly ice slick. I had enough trouble not falling down when the ground was dry; it might be safer for me to go back to bed now.**

"It would have been."

"Why? What happened, Eddie?"

"I told you not to call me Eddie, Embry."

"I know."

"So why are you?"

"'Cause it annoys you."

"Ugh."

**Charlie had left for work before I got downstairs. In a lot of ways, living with Charlie was like having my own place, and I found myself reveling in the aloneness instead of being lonely.**

**I threw down a quick bowl of cereal and some orange juice from the carton. I felt excited to go to school, and that scared me. I knew it wasn't the stimulating learning environment I was anticipating, or seeing my new set of friends. If I was being honest with myself, I knew I was eager to get to school because I would see Edward Cullen. And that was very, very stupid.**

**I should be avoiding him entirely after my brainless and embarrassing babbling yesterday. And I was suspicious of him; why should he lie about his eyes? I was still frightened of the hostility I sometimes felt emanating from him, and I was still tongue-tied whenever I pictured his perfect face. I was well aware that my league and his league were spheres that did not touch. So I shouldn't be at all anxious to see him today.**

**It took every ounce of my concentration to make it down the icy brick driveway alive. I almost lost my balance when I finally got to the truck, but I managed to cling to the side mirror and save myself. Clearly, today was going to be nightmarish.**

**Driving to school, I distracted myself from my fear of falling and my unwanted speculations about Edward Cullen by thinking about Mike and Eric, and the obvious difference in how teenage boys responded to me here. I was sure I looked exactly the same as I had in Phoenix. Maybe it was just that the boys back home had watched me pass slowly through all the awkward phases of adolescence and still thought of me that way. Perhaps it was because I was a novelty here, where novelties were few and far between. Possibly my crippling clumsiness was seen as endearing rather than pathetic, casting me as a damsel in distress. Whatever the reason, Mike's puppy dog behavior and Eric's apparent rivalry with him were disconcerting. I wasn't sure if I didn't prefer being ignored.**

"I'm still not sure."

**My truck seemed to have no problem with the black ice that covered the roads. I drove very slowly, though, not wanting to carve a path of destruction through Main Street.**

**When I got out of my truck at school, I saw why I'd had so little trouble. Something silver caught my eye, and I walked to the back of the truck - carefully holding the side for support - to examine my tires. There were thin chains crisscrossed in diamond shapes around them. Charlie had gotten up who knows how early to put snow chains on my truck. My throat suddenly felt tight. I wasn't used to being taken care of, and Charlie's unspoken concern caught me by surprise.**

**I was standing by the back corner of the truck, struggling to fight back the sudden wave of emotion the snow chains had brought on, when I heard an odd sound.**

**It was a high-pitched screech, and it was fast becoming painfully loud. I looked up, startled.**

**I saw several things simultaneously. Nothing was moving in slow motion, the way it does in the movies. Instead, the adrenaline rush seemed to make my brain work much faster, and I was able to absorb in clear detail several things at once.**

"Funny how that works, right?"

"Alice?"

"Yes, Carlisle?"

"Shush."

**Edward Cullen was standing four cars down from me, staring at me in horror. His face stood out from a sea of faces, all frozen in the same mask of shock. But of more immediate importance was the dark blue van that was skidding, tires locked and squealing against the brakes, spinning wildly across the ice of the parking lot. It was going to hit the back corner of my truck, and I was standing between them. I didn't even have time to close my eyes.**

**Just before I heard the shattering crunch of the van folding around the truck bed, something hit me, hard, but not from the direction I was expecting. My head cracked against the icy blacktop, and I felt something solid and cold pinning me to the ground. I was lying on the pavement behind the tan car I'd parked next to. But I didn't have a chance to notice anything else, because the van was still coming. It had curled grating around the end of the truck and, still spinning and sliding, was about to collide with me again.**

"You just cannot catch a break, can you."

"Nope. Everything was out to kill me. Still is, but to a lesser extent."

**A low oath made me aware that someone was with me, and the voice was impossible not to recognize. Two long, white hands shot out protectively in front of me, and the van shuddered to a stop a foot from my face, the large hands fitting providentially into a deep dent in the side of the van's body.**

**Then his hands moved so fast they blurred. One was suddenly gripping under the body of the van, and something was dragging me, swinging my legs around like a rag doll's, till they hit the tire of the tan car. A groaning metallic thud hurt my ears, and the van settled, glass popping, onto the asphalt - exactly where, a second ago, my legs had been.**

"So, a van crashed into where you had stood, bent to reach you, and then when that didn't work, tried to crush your legs."

"Yep. I told you, Quil, everything was out to kill me.

**It was absolutely silent for one long second before the screaming began. In the abrupt bedlam, I could hear more than one person shouting my name. But more clearly than all the yelling, I could hear Edward Cullen's low, frantic voice in my ear.**

**"Bella? Are you all right?"**

**"I'm fine." My voice sounded strange. I tried to sit up, and realized he was holding me against the side of his body in an iron grasp.**

**"Be careful," he warned as I struggled. "I think you hit your head pretty hard."**

**I became aware of a throbbing ache centered above my left ear.**

**"Ow," I said, surprised.**

**"That's what I thought." His voice, amazingly, sounded like he was suppressing laughter.**

"You just noticed?"

"Sorry. I'll try to notice my pain next time."

**"How in the..." I trailed off, trying to clear my head, get my bearings. "How did you get over here so fast?"**

**"I was standing right next to you, Bella," he said, his tone serious again. I turned to sit up, and this time he let me, releasing his hold around my waist and sliding as far from me as he could in the limited space. I looked at his concerned, innocent expression and was disoriented again by the force of his gold-colored eyes. What was I asking him?**

**And then they found us, a crowd of people with tears streaming down their faces, shouting at each other, shouting at us.**

**"Don't move," someone instructed.**

**"Get Tyler out of the van!" someone else shouted. There was a flurry of activity around us. I tried to get up, but Edward's cold hand pushed my shoulder down.**

**"Just stay put for now."**

**"But it's cold," I complained. It surprised me when he chuckled under his breath. There was an edge to the sound.**

"You were almost killed, and you're complaining that it's cold? Charlie, your daughter needs to rearrange her priorities."

"I know, Billy. I know."

"You two are mean."

**"You were over there," I suddenly remembered, and his chuckle stopped short. "You were by your car."**

**His expression turned hard. "No, I wasn't."**

**"I saw you." All around us was chaos. I could hear the gruffer voices of adults arriving on the scene. But I obstinately held on to our argument; I was right, and he was going to admit it.**

**"Bella, I was standing with you, and I pulled you out-of-the-way." He unleashed the full, devastating power of his eyes on me, as if trying to communicate something crucial.**

**"No." I set my jaw.**

**The gold in his eyes blazed. "Please, Bella."**

**"Why?" I demanded.**

**"Trust me," he pleaded, his soft voice overwhelming.**

**I could hear the sirens now. "Will you promise to explain everything to me later?"**

**"Fine," he snapped, abruptly exasperated.**

**"Fine," I repeated angrily.**

**It took six EMTs and two teachers - Mr. Varner and Coach Clapp - to shift the van far enough away from us to bring the stretchers in. Edward vehemently refused his, and I tried to do the same, but the traitor told them I'd hit my head and probably had a concussion. I almost died of humiliation when they put on the neck brace. It looked like the entire school was there, watching soberly as they loaded me in the back of the ambulance. Edward got to ride in the front. It was maddening.**

"Haha."

"Shut up, Jacob."

**To make matters worse, Chief Swan arrived before they could get me safely away.**

**"Bella!" he yelled in panic when he recognized me on the stretcher.**

**"I'm completely fine, Char - Dad," I sighed. "There's nothing wrong with me."**

**He turned to the closest EMT for a second opinion. I tuned him out to consider the jumble of inexplicable images churning chaotically in my head. When they'd lifted me away from the car, I had seen the deep dent in the tan car's bumper - a very distinct dent that fit the contours of Edward's shoulders... as if he had braced himself against the car with enough force to damage the metal frame...**

**And then there was his family, looking on from the distance, with expressions that ranged from disapproval to fury but held no hint of concern for their brother's safety. I tried to think of a logical solution that could explain what I had just seen - a solution that excluded the assumption that I was insane.**

**Naturally, the ambulance got a police escort to the county hospital. I felt ridiculous the whole time they were unloading me. What made it worse was that Edward simply glided through the hospital doors under his own power. I ground my teeth together.**

**They put me in the emergency room, a long room with a line of beds separated by pastel-patterned curtains. A nurse put a pressure cuff on my arm and a thermometer under my tongue. Since no one bothered pulling the curtain around to give me some privacy, I decided I wasn't obligated to wear the stupid-looking neck brace anymore. When the nurse walked away, I quickly unfastened the Velcro and threw it under the bed.**

**There was another flurry of hospital personnel, another stretcher brought to the bed next to me. I recognized Tyler Crowley from my Government class beneath the bloodstained bandages wrapped tightly around his head. Tyler looked a hundred times worse than I felt. But he was staring anxiously at me.**

**"Bella, I'm so sorry!"**

**"I'm fine, Tyler - you look awful, are you all right?" As we spoke, nurses began unwinding his soiled bandages, exposing a myriad of shallow slices all over his forehead and left cheek.**

**He ignored me. "I thought I was going to kill you! I was going too fast, and I hit the ice wrong..." He winced as one nurse started dabbing at his face.**

**"Don't worry about it; you missed me."**

**"How did you get out of the way so fast? You were there, and then you were gone..."**

**"Umm... Edward pulled me out of the way."**

**He looked confused. "Who?"**

**"Edward Cullen - he was standing next to me." I'd always been a terrible liar; I didn't sound convincing at all.**

**"Cullen? I didn't see him... wow, it was all so fast, I guess. Is he okay?"**

**"I think so. He's here somewhere, but they didn't make him use a stretcher."**

**I knew I wasn't crazy. What had happened? There was no way to explain away what I'd seen.**

**They wheeled me away then, to X-ray my head. I told them there was nothing wrong, and I was right. Not even a concussion. I asked if I could leave, but the nurse said I had to talk to a doctor first. So I was trapped in the ER, waiting, harassed by Tyler's constant apologies and promises to make it up to me. No matter how many times I tried to convince him I was fine, he continued to torment himself. Finally, I closed my eyes and ignored him. He kept up a remorseful mumbling.**

**"Is she sleeping?" a musical voice asked. My eyes flew open.**

**Edward was standing at the foot of my bed, smirking. I glared at him. It wasn't easy - it would have been more natural to ogle.**

**"Hey, Edward, I'm really sorry -"Tyler began.**

**Edward lifted a hand to stop him.**

**"No blood, no foul," he said, flashing his brilliant teeth. He moved to sit on the edge of Tyler 's bed, facing me. He smirked again.**

**"So, what's the verdict?" he asked me.**

**"There's nothing wrong with me at all, but they won't let me go," I complained. "How come you aren't strapped to a gurney like the rest of us?"**

**"It's all about who you know," he answered. "But don't worry, I came to spring you."**

**Then a doctor walked around the corner, and my mouth fell open. He was young, he was blond... and he was handsomer than any movie star I'd ever seen. He was pale, though, and tired-looking, with circles under his eyes. From Charlie's description, this had to be Edward's father.**

"Thank you, Bella."

"You're welcome, Carlisle."

**"So, Miss Swan," Dr. Cullen said in a remarkably appealing voice, "how are you feeling?"**

** "I'm fine," I said, for the last time, I hoped.**

**He walked to the lightboard on the wall over my head, and turned it on. "Your X-rays look good," he said. "Does your head hurt? Edward said you hit it pretty hard."**

**"It's fine," I repeated with a sigh, throwing a quick scowl toward Edward. The doctor's cool fingers probed lightly along my skull. He noticed when I winced.**

**"Tender?" he asked.**

**"Not really." I'd had worse.**

**I heard a chuckle, and looked over to see Edward's patronizing smile. My eyes narrowed.**

**"Well, your father is in the waiting room - you can go home with him now. But come back if you feel dizzy or have trouble with your eyesight at all."**

**"Can't I go back to school?" I asked, imagining Charlie trying to be attentive.**

**"Maybe you should take it easy today."**

**I glanced at Edward. "Does _he_ get to go to school?"**

**"Someone has to spread the good news that we survived," Edward said smugly.**

**"Actually," Dr. Cullen corrected, "most of the school seems to be in the waiting room."**

**"Oh no," I moaned, covering my face with my hands.**

**Dr. Cullen raised his eyebrows. "Do you want to stay?"**

**"No, no!" I insisted, throwing my legs over the side of the bed and hopping down quickly. Too quickly - I staggered, and Dr. Cullen caught me. He looked concerned.**

**"I'm fine," I assured him again. No need to tell him my balance problems had nothing to do with hitting my head.**

**"Take some Tylenol for the pain," he suggested as he steadied me.**

**"It doesn't hurt that bad," I insisted.**

**"It sounds like you were extremely lucky," Dr. Cullen said, smiling as he signed my chart with a flourish.**

**"Lucky Edward happened to be standing next to me," I amended with a hard glance at the subject of my statement.**

**"Oh, well, yes," Dr. Cullen agreed, suddenly occupied with the papers in front of him. Then he looked away, at Tyler, and walked to the next bed. My intuition flickered; the doctor was in on it.**

"Well, seeing as I started it, I hope I'm in on it."

Bella stuck her tongue out at her father-in-law.

**"I'm afraid that _you'll_ have to stay with us just a little bit longer," he said to Tyler, and began checking his cuts.**

**As soon as the doctor's back was turned, I moved to Edward's side.**

**"Can I talk to you for a minute?" I hissed under my breath. He took a step back from me, his jaw suddenly clenched.**

**"Your father is waiting for you," he said through his teeth.**

**I glanced at Dr. Cullen and Tyler.**

**"I'd like to speak with you alone, if you don't mind," I pressed.**

**He glared, and then turned his back and strode down the long room. I nearly had to run to keep up. As soon as we turned the corner into a short hallway, he spun around to face me.**

**"What do you want?" he asked, sounding annoyed. His eyes were cold. His unfriendliness intimidated me. My words came out with less severity than I'd intended. "You owe me an explanation," I reminded him.**

** "I saved your life - I don't owe you anything."**

**I flinched back from the resentment in his voice. "You promised."**

**"Bella, you hit your head, you don't know what you're talking about." His tone was cutting.**

**My temper flared now, and I glared defiantly at him. "There's nothing wrong with my head."**

**He glared back. "What do you want from me, Bella?"**

**"I want to know the truth," I said. "I want to know why I'm lying for you."**

**"What do you think happened?" he snapped.**

**It came out in a rush.**

**"All I know is that you weren't anywhere near me - Tyler didn't see you, either, so don't tell me I hit my head too hard. That van was going to crush us both - and it didn't, and your hands left dents in the side of it - and you left a dent in the other car, and you're not hurt at all - and the van should have smashed my legs, but you were holding it up..." I could hear how crazy it sounded, and I couldn't continue. I was so mad I could feel the tears coming; I tried to force them back by grinding my teeth together.**

**He was staring at me incredulously. But his face was tense, defensive.**

**"You think I lifted a van off you?" His tone questioned my sanity, but it only made me more suspicious. It was like a perfectly delivered line by a skilled actor.**

**I merely nodded once, jaw tight.**

**"Nobody will believe that, you know." His voice held an edge of derision now.**

**"I'm not going to tell anybody." I said each word slowly, carefully controlling my anger.**

**Surprise flitted across his face. "Then why does it matter?"**

**"It matters to me," I insisted. "I don't like to lie - so there'd better be a good reason why I'm doing it."**

**"Can't you just thank me and get over it?"**

**"Thank you." I waited, fuming and expectant.**

**"You're not going to let it go, are you?"**

**"No."**

**"In that case... I hope you enjoy disappointment."**

**We scowled at each other in silence. I was the first to speak, trying to keep myself focused. I was in danger of being distracted by his livid, glorious face. It was like trying to stare down a destroying angel.**

**"Why did you even bother?" I asked frigidly.**

**He paused, and for a brief moment his stunning face was unexpectedly vulnerable.**

**"I don't know," he whispered.**

**And then he turned his back on me and walked away.**

**I was so angry, it took me a few minutes until I could move. When I could walk, I made my way slowly to the exit at the end of the hallway.**

**The waiting room was more unpleasant than I'd feared. It seemed like every face I knew in Forks was there, staring at me. Charlie rushed to my side; I put up my hands.**

**"There's nothing wrong with me," I assured him sullenly. I was still aggravated, not in the mood for chitchat.**

**"What did the doctor say?"**

**"Dr. Cullen saw me, and he said I was fine and I could go home." I sighed. Mike and Jessica and Eric were all there, beginning to converge on us. "Let's go," I urged.**

** Charlie put one arm behind my back, not quite touching me, and led me to the glass doors of the exit. I waved sheepishly at my friends, hoping to convey that they didn't need to worry anymore. It was a huge relief - the first time I'd ever felt that way – to get into the cruiser.**

**We drove in silence. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I barely knew Charlie was there. I was positive that Edward's defensive behavior in the hall was a confirmation of the bizarre things I still could hardly believe I'd witnessed.**

"It kind of was. You really aren't good at lying to her."

**When we got to the house, Charlie finally spoke.**

**"Um... you'll need to call Renée." He hung his head, guilty.**

**I was appalled. "You told Mom!"**

**"Sorry."**

**I slammed the cruiser's door a little harder than necessary on my way out. My mom was in hysterics, of course. I had to tell her I felt fine at least thirty times before she would calm down. She begged me to come home - forgetting the fact that home was empty at the moment - but her pleas were easier to resist than I would have thought. I was consumed by the mystery Edward presented. And more than a little obsessed by Edward himself. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I wasn't as eager to escape Forks as I should be, as any normal, sane person would be.**

"But, then again, when have I ever been normal. Or sane."

**I decided I might as well go to bed early that night. Charlie continued to watch me anxiously, and it was getting on my nerves. I stopped on my way to grab three Tylenol from the bathroom. They did help, and, as the pain eased, I drifted to sleep.**

**That was the first night I dreamed of Edward Cullen.**


	6. Book One - Chapter Four

**Chapter Four -Invitations**

Jacob wiggled his eyebrows at the 'dream' part.

"Not that kind of dream, Jake!"

"Oh? Then what kind of dream was it?"

"It will most likely be in the book. So nyeh."

Edward turned to hand the book to Charlie, but he shook his head.

"I'll stick with listening."

Rosalie smiled. "Oh, goodie. I get chapter six then."

Billy looked up. "I don't want to read either."

Jasper nodded. "Alright. So, we skip Billy and Claire."

Quil looked up from his imprintee. "Claire can read, you know."

"I know, but she can't read fast enough. If we skip her, we should be able to finish the first book before everyone has to go home."

Quil paused for a moment, and then nodded in acquiescence.

"Ok then." Jasper took the book from Edward, and flipped to the right page. "Chapter four, Invitations."

**In my dream it was very dark, and what dim light there was seemed to be radiating from Edward's skin. I couldn't see his face, just his back as he walked away from me, leaving me in the blackness. No matter how fast I ran, I couldn't catch up to him; no matter how loud I called, he never turned. **

Kithrin leaned over and murmured to Kira, "Sound familiar?"

All the vampires and shapeshifters could hear her, but decided to ignore it.

**Troubled, I woke in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep again for what seemed like a very long time. After that, he was in my dreams nearly every night, but always on the periphery, never within reach.**

**The month that followed the accident was uneasy, tense, and, at first, embarrassing.**

**To my dismay, I found myself the center of attention for the rest of that week. Tyler Crowley was impossible, following me around, obsessed with making amends to me somehow. I tried to convince him what I wanted more than anything else was for him to forget all about it - especially since nothing had actually happened to me - but he remained insistent. He followed me between classes and sat at our now-crowded lunch table. Mike and Eric were even less friendly toward him than they were to each other, which made me worry that I'd gained another unwelcome fan.**

**No one seemed concerned about Edward, though I explained over and over that he was the hero - how he had pulled me out of the way and had nearly been crushed, too. I tried to be convincing. Jessica, Mike, Eric, and everyone else always commented that they hadn't even seen him there till the van was pulled away.**

"Because he wasn't," Seth said helpfully.

"Oh, really? I didn't realize that," Bella said, the sarcasm in her voice almost palpable.

"Really? You should probably pay more attention, Bella. That's sad."

**I wondered to myself why no one else had seen him standing so far away, before he was suddenly, impossibly saving my life. With chagrin, I realized the probable cause - no one else was as aware of Edward as I always was. No one else watched him the way I did. How pitiful.**

**Edward was never surrounded by crowds of curious bystanders eager for his firsthand account. People avoided him as usual. The Cullens and the Hales sat at the same table as always, not eating, talking only among themselves. None of them, especially Edward, glanced my way anymore.**

**When he sat next to me in class, as far from me as the table would allow, he seemed totally unaware of my presence. Only now and then, when his fists would suddenly ball up - skin stretched even whiter over the bones - did I wonder if he wasn't quite as oblivious as he appeared.**

**He wished he hadn't pulled me from the path of Tyler's van - there was no other conclusion I could come to.**

"I would never wish that."

**I wanted very much to talk to him, and the day after the accident I tried. The last time I'd seen him, outside the ER, we'd both been so furious. I still was angry that he wouldn't trust me with the truth, even though I was keeping my part of the bargain flawlessly. But he had in fact saved my life, no matter how he'd done it. And, overnight, the heat of my anger faded into awed gratitude.**

**He was already seated when I got to Biology, looking straight ahead. I sat down, expecting him to turn toward me. He showed no sign that he realized I was there.**

**"Hello, Edward," I said pleasantly, to show him I was going to behave myself.**

**He turned his head a fraction toward me without meeting my gaze, nodded once, and then looked the other way.**

**And that was the last contact I'd had with him, though he was there, a foot away from me, every day. I watched him sometimes, unable to stop myself- from a distance, though, in the cafeteria or parking lot. I watched as his golden eyes grew perceptibly darker day by day. But in class I gave no more notice that he existed than he showed toward me. I was miserable. And the dreams continued.**

"I thought you were ignoring me."

**Despite my outright lies, the tenor of my e-mails alerted Renée to my depression, and she called a few times, worried. I tried to convince her it was just the weather that had me down.**

**Mike, at least, was pleased by the obvious coolness between me and my lab partner. I could see he'd been worried that Edward's daring rescue might have impressed me, and he was relieved that it seemed to have the opposite effect. He grew more confident, sitting on the edge of my table to talk before Biology class started, ignoring Edward as completely as he ignored us.**

**The snow washed away for good after that one dangerously icy day. Mike was disappointed he'd never gotten to stage his snowball fight, but pleased that the beach trip would soon be possible.**

"Yay!" cheered Jacob, trying to cheer up the chapter.

**The rain continued heavily, though, and the weeks passed. **

**Jessica made me aware of another event looming on the horizon - she called the first Tuesday of March to ask my permission to invite Mike to the girls' choice spring dance in two weeks.**

**"Are you sure you don't mind... you weren't planning to ask him?" she persisted when I told her I didn't mind in the least.**

**"No, Jess, I'm not going," I assured her. Dancing was glaringly outside my range of abilities.**

"Really now? I never would have guessed. I mean, it's not like you're clumsy or anything."

"Shut up, Jacob."

**"It will be really fun." Her attempt to convince me was halfhearted. I suspected that Jessica enjoyed my inexplicable popularity more than my actual company.**

**"You have fun with Mike," I encouraged.**

**The next day, I was surprised that Jessica wasn't her usual gushing self in Trig and Spanish. She was silent as she walked by my side between classes, and I was afraid to ask her why. If Mike had turned her down, I was the last person she would want to tell.**

**My fears were strengthened during lunch when Jessica sat as far from Mike as possible, chatting animatedly with Eric. Mike was unusually quiet.**

"Curiouser and curiouser." Kithrin muttered.

"Louis Carroll? Really, Kithrin?" Kira said, giving her companion a strange look.

**Mike was still quiet as he walked me to class, the uncomfortable look on his face a bad sign. But he didn't broach the subject until I was in my seat and he was perched on my desk. As always, I was electrically aware of Edward sitting close enough to touch, as distant as if he were merely an invention of my imagination.**

**"So," Mike said, looking at the floor, "Jessica asked me to the spring dance."**

**"That's great." I made my voice bright and enthusiastic. "You'll have a lot of fun with Jessica."**

**"Well..." He floundered as he examined my smile, clearly not happy with my response. "I told her I had to think about it."**

**"Why would you do that?" I let disapproval color my tone, though I was relieved he hadn't given her an absolute no.**

**His face was bright red as he looked down again. Pity shook my resolve. "I was wondering if... well, if you might be planning to ask me."**

**I paused for a moment, hating the wave of guilt that swept through me. But I saw, from the corner of my eye, Edward's head tilt reflexively in my direction.**

"I didn't mean to tilt."

**"Mike, I think you should tell her yes," I said.**

**"Did you already ask someone?" Did Edward notice how Mike's eyes flickered in his direction?**

**"No," I assured him. "I'm not going to the dance at all."**

**"Why not?" Mike demanded.**

**I didn't want to get into the safety hazards that dancing presented, so I quickly made new plans.**

**"I'm going to Seattle that Saturday," I explained. I needed to get out of town anyway - it was suddenly the perfect time to go.**

**"Can't you go some other weekend?"**

**"Sorry, no," I said. "So you shouldn't make Jess wait any longer - it's rude."**

**"Yeah, you're right," he mumbled, and turned, dejected, to walk back to his seat. I closed my eyes and pressed my fingers to my temples, trying to push the guilt and sympathy out of my head. Mr. Banner began talking. I sighed and opened my eyes.**

**And Edward was staring at me curiously, that same, familiar edge of frustration even more distinct now in his black eyes.**

**I stared back, surprised, expecting him to look quickly away. But instead he continued to gaze with probing intensity into my eyes. There was no question of me looking away. My hands started to shake.**

**"Mr. Cullen?" the teacher called, seeking the answer to a question that I hadn't heard.**

**"The Krebs Cycle," Edward answered, seeming reluctant as he turned to look at Mr. Banner.**

**I looked down at my book as soon as his eyes released me, trying to find my place. Cowardly as ever, I shifted my hair over my right shoulder to hide my face. I couldn't believe the rush of emotion pulsing through me - just because he'd happened to look at me for the first time in a half-dozen weeks. I couldn't allow him to have this level of influence over me. It was pathetic. More than pathetic, it was unhealthy.**

**I tried very hard not to be aware of him for the rest of the hour, and, since that was impossible, at least not to let him know that I was aware of him. When the bell rang at last, I turned my back to him to gather my things, expecting him to leave immediately as usual.**

**"Bella?" His voice shouldn't have been so familiar to me, as if I'd known the sound of it all my life rather than for just a few short weeks.**

**I turned slowly, unwillingly. I didn't want to feel what I knew I would feel when I looked at his too-perfect face. My expression was wary when I finally turned to him; his expression was unreadable. He didn't say anything.**

**"What? Are you speaking to me again?" I finally asked, an unintentional note of petulance in my voice.**

**His lips twitched, fighting a smile. "No, not really," he admitted.**

**I closed my eyes and inhaled slowly through my nose, aware that I was gritting my teeth. He waited.**

**"Then what do you want, Edward?" I asked, keeping my eyes closed; it was easier to talk to him coherently that way.**

**"I'm sorry." He sounded sincere. "I'm being very rude, I know. But it's better this way, really."**

**I opened my eyes. His face was very serious.**

**"I don't know what you mean," I said, my voice guarded.**

**"It's better if we're not friends," he explained. "Trust me."**

**My eyes narrowed. I'd heard that before.**

**"It's too bad you didn't figure that out earlier," I hissed through my teeth. "You could have saved yourself all this regret."**

**"Regret?" The word, and my tone, obviously caught him off guard. "Regret for what?"**

**"For not just letting that stupid van squish me."**

**He was astonished. He stared at me in disbelief.**

**When he finally spoke, he almost sounded mad. "You think I regret saving your life?"**

**"I know you do," I snapped.**

**"You don't know anything." He was definitely mad.**

"Never," real-Edward agreed.

"You realize you just agreed with yourself, right?"

"Yeah."

**I turned my head sharply away from him, clenching my jaw against all the wild accusations I wanted to hurl at him. I gathered my books together, then stood and walked to the door. I meant to sweep dramatically out of the room, but of course I caught the toe of my boot on the door jamb and dropped my books.I stood there for a moment, thinking about leaving them. Then I sighed and bent to pick them up. He was there; he'd already stacked them into a pile. He handed them to me, his face hard.**

**"Thank you," I said icily.**

**His eyes narrowed.**

**"You're welcome," he retorted.**

**I straightened up swiftly, turned away from him again, and stalked off to Gym without looking back.**

**Gym was brutal. We'd moved on to basketball. My team never passed me the ball, so that was good, but I fell down a lot. Sometimes I took people with me. Today I was worse than usual because my head was so filled with Edward. I tried to concentrate on my feet, but he kept creeping back into my thoughts just when I really needed my balance.**

**It was a relief, as always, to leave. I almost ran to the truck; there were just so many people I wanted to avoid. The truck had suffered only minimal damage in the accident. I'd had to replace the taillights, and if I'd had a real paint job, I would have touched that up. Tyler's parents had to sell their van for parts.**

**I almost had a stroke when I rounded the corner and saw a tall, dark figure leaning against the side of my truck. Then I realized it was just Eric. I started walking again.**

**"Hey, Eric," I called.**

**"Hi, Bella."**

**"What's up?" I said as I was unlocking the door. I wasn't paying attention to the uncomfortable edge in his voice, so his next words took me by surprise. "Uh, I was just wondering... if you would go to the spring dance with me?" His voice broke on the last word.**

**"I thought it was girls' choice," I said, too startled to be diplomatic.**

**"Well, yeah," he admitted, shamefaced.**

**I recovered my composure and tried to make my smile warm. "Thank you for asking me, but I'm going to be in Seattle that day."**

**"Oh," he said. "Well, maybe next time."**

**"Sure," I agreed, and then bit my lip. I wouldn't want him to take that too literally.**

The reading paused as Alice started freaking about how Bella couldn't bee with anyone but Edward.

Kira and Leah shared a look that expressed a wish to inflict immense pain to the next interrupter.

**He slouched off, back toward the school. I heard a low chuckle.**

**Edward was walking past the front of my truck, looking straight forward, his lips pressed together. I yanked the door open and jumped inside, slamming it loudly behind me. I revved the engine deafeningly and reversed out into the aisle. Edward was in his car already, two spaces down, sliding out smoothly in front of me, cutting me off. He stopped there - to wait for his family; I could see the four of them walking this way, but still by the cafeteria. I considered taking out the rear of his shiny Volvo, but there were too many witnesses. I looked in my rearview mirror. A line was beginning to form. Directly behind me, Tyler Crowley was in his recently acquired used Sentra, waving. I was too aggravated to acknowledge him.**

**While I was sitting there, looking everywhere but at the car in front of me, I heard a knock on my passenger side window. I looked over; it was Tyler. I glanced back in my rearview mirror, confused. His car was still running, the door left open. I leaned across the cab to crank the window down. It was stiff. I got it halfway down, then gave up. "I'm sorry, Tyler, I'm stuck behind Cullen." I was annoyed - obviously the holdup wasn't my fault.**

"I did it on purpose."

"Why though?"

"I wanted to hear your reaction. Plus, you did the angry-kitten thing."

**"Oh, I know - I just wanted to ask you something while we're trapped here." He grinned.**

**This could not be happening.**

**"Will you ask me to the spring dance?" he continued.**

**"I'm not going to be in town, Tyler." My voice sounded a little sharp. I had to remember it wasn't his fault that Mike and Eric had already used up my quota of patience for the day.**

**"Yeah, Mike said that," he admitted.**

**"Then why -"**

**He shrugged. "I was hoping you were just letting him down easy."**

**Okay, it was completely his fault.**

**"Sorry, Tyler," I said, working to hide my irritation. "I really am going out of town."**

**"That's cool. We still have prom."**

Alice started to open her mouth to continue her freak out, but she quickly shut it when Kira and Leah glared coldly at her, wordlessly daring her to say anything.

**And before I could respond, he was walking back to his car. I could feel the shock on my face. I looked forward to see Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper all sliding into the Volvo. In his rearview mirror, Edward's eyes were on me. He was unquestionably shaking with laughter, as if he'd heard every word Tyler had said. My foot itched toward the gas pedal... one little bump wouldn't hurt any of them, just that glossy silver paint job. I revved the engine.**

**But they were all in, and Edward was speeding away. I drove home slowly, carefully, muttering to myself the whole way.**

**When I got home, I decided to make chicken enchiladas for dinner. It was a long process, and it would keep me busy. While I was simmering the onions and chilies, the phone rang. I was almost afraid to answer it, but it might be Charlie or my mom. It was Jessica, and she was jubilant; Mike had caught her after school to accept her invitation. I celebrated with her briefly while I stirred. She had to go, she wanted to call Angela and Lauren to tell them. I suggested - with casual innocence - that maybe Angela, the shy girl who had Biology with me, could ask Eric. And Lauren, a standoffish girl who had always ignored me at the lunch table, could ask Tyler; I'd heard he was still available. Jess thought that was a great idea. Now that she was sure of Mike, she actually sounded sincere when she said she wished I would go to the dance. I gave her my Seattle excuse.**

**After I hung up, I tried to concentrate on dinner - dicing the chicken especially; I didn't want to take another trip to the emergency room. But my head was spinning, trying to analyze every word Edward had spoken today. What did he mean, it was better if we weren't friends?**

**My stomach twisted as I realized what he must have meant. He must see how absorbed I was by him; he must not want to lead me on... so we couldn't even be friends... because he wasn't interested in me at all.**

**Of course he wasn't interested in me, I thought angrily, my eyes stinging - a delayed reaction to the onions. I wasn't interesting. And he was. Interesting... and brilliant... and mysterious... and perfect... and beautiful... and possibly able to lift full-sized vans with one hand.**

**Well, that was fine. I could leave him alone. I would leave him alone. I would get through my self-imposed sentence here in purgatory, and then hopefully some school in the Southwest, or possibly Hawaii, would offer me a scholarship. I focused my thoughts on sunny beaches and palm trees as I finished the enchiladas and put them in the oven.**

**Charlie seemed suspicious when he came home and smelled the green peppers. I couldn't blame him - the closest edible Mexican food was probably in southern California. But he was a cop, even if just a small-town cop, so he was brave enough to take the first bite. He seemed to like it. It was fun to watch as he slowly began trusting me in the kitchen.**

Charlie shrugged. "You're food is really good."

**"Dad?" I asked when he was almost done.**

**"Yeah, Bella?"**

**"Um, I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to Seattle for the day a week from Saturday... if that's okay?" I didn't want to ask permission - it set a bad precedent - but I felt rude, so I tacked it on at the end.**

**"Why?" He sounded surprised, as if he were unable to imagine something that Forks couldn't offer.**

"There is a LOT Forks doesn't offer."

**"Well, I wanted to get few books - the library here is pretty limited - and maybe look at some clothes." I had more money than I was used to having, since, thanks to Charlie, I hadn't had to pay for a car. Not that the truck didn't cost me quite a bit in the gas department.**

**"That truck probably doesn't get very good gas mileage," he said, echoing my thoughts.**

**"I know, I'll stop in Montesano and Olympia - and Tacoma if I have to."**

**"Are you going all by yourself?" he asked, and I couldn't tell if he was suspicious I had a secret boyfriend or just worried about car trouble.**

**"Yes."**

**"Seattle is a big city - you could get lost," he fretted.**

**"Dad, Phoenix is five times the size of Seattle - and I can read a map, don't worry about it."**

**"Do you want me to come with you?"**

**I tried to be crafty as I hid my horror.**

"Sorry dad; shopping with a parent is not fun. Especially with a father."

**"That's all right, Dad, I'll probably just be in dressing rooms all day - very boring."**

**"Oh, okay." The thought of sitting in women's clothing stores for any period of time immediately put him off.**

**"Thanks." I smiled at him.**

**"Will you be back in time for the dance?"**

**Grrr. Only in a town this small would a father know when the high school dances were.**

**"No - I don't dance, Dad." He, of all people, should understand that - I didn't get my balance problems from my mother.**

"Sorry Bell."

"Not your fault, dad. It didn't help me stay away from dances anyway; Alice made sure of that."

"Alice. Comment and I will hurt you. I've heard enough out of you for this chapter." Alice pouted after that.

**He did understand. "Oh, that's right," he realized.**

**The next morning, when I pulled into the parking lot, I deliberately parked as far as possible from the silver Volvo. I didn't want to put myself in the path of too much temptation and end up owing him a new car. Getting out of the cab, I fumbled with my key and it fell into a puddle at my feet. As I bent to get it, a white hand flashed out and grabbed it before I could. I jerked upright. Edward Cullen was right next to me, leaning casually against my truck.**

**"How do you do that?" I asked in amazed irritation.**

**"Do what?" He held my key out as he spoke. As I reached for it, he dropped it into my palm.**

**"Appear out of thin air."**

**"Bella, it's not my fault if you are exceptionally unobservant." His voice was quiet as usual - velvet, muted.**

"That's one of the bigger lies of this book. You're very observant."

**I scowled at his perfect face. His eyes were light again today, a deep, golden honey color. Then I had to look down, to reassemble my now-tangled thoughts.**

**"Why the traffic jam last night?" I demanded, still looking away. "I thought you were supposed to be pretending I don't exist, not irritating me to death."**

**"That was for Tyler's sake, not mine. I had to give him his chance." He snickered.**

**"You..." I gasped. I couldn't think of a bad enough word. It felt like the heat of my anger should physically burn him, but he only seemed more amused.**

**"And I'm not pretending you don't exist," he continued.**

**"So you are trying to irritate me to death? Since Tyler's van didn't do the job?"**

**Anger flashed in his tawny eyes. His lips pressed into a hard line, all signs of humor gone.**

**"Bella, you are utterly absurd," he said, his low voice cold.**

"Edward! That was not called for at all. You did apologize, correct?"

"Yes, Esme." The wolves burst out laughing.

"Poor Eddie, always getting in trouble."

"Kithrin, really? You know what, never mind." With that Kira shook her head back and forth, then let it fall into her hands.

**My palms tingled - I wanted so badly to hit something. I was surprised at myself. I was usually a nonviolent person. I turned my back and started to walk away.**

**"Wait," he called. I kept walking, sloshing angrily through the rain. But he was next to me, easily keeping pace.**

**"I'm sorry, that was rude," he said as we walked. I ignored him. "I'm not saying it isn't true," he continued, "but it was rude to say it, anyway."**

**"Why won't you leave me alone?" I grumbled.**

**"I wanted to ask you something, but you sidetracked me," he chuckled. He seemed to have recovered his good humor.**

**"Do you have a multiple personality disorder?" I asked severely.**

**"You're doing it again."**

**I sighed." Fine then. What do you want to ask?"**

**"I was wondering if, a week from Saturday- you know, the day of the spring dance–"**

**"Are you trying to be funny?" I interrupted him, wheeling toward him. My face got drenched as I looked up at his expression.**

**His eyes were wickedly amused. "Will you please allow me to finish?"**

**I bit my lip and clasped my hands together, interlocking my fingers, so I couldn't do anything rash.**

**"I heard you say you were going to Seattle that day, and I was wondering if you wanted a ride."**

**That was unexpected.**

**"What?" I wasn't sure what he was getting at.**

**"Do you want a ride to Seattle?"**

**"With who?" I asked, mystified.**

**"Myself, obviously." He enunciated every syllable, as if he were talking to someone mentally handicapped.**

**I was still stunned. "Why?"**

**"Well, I was planning to go to Seattle in the next few weeks, and, to be honest, I'm not sure if your truck can make it."**

**"My truck works just fine, thank you very much for your concern." I started to walk again, but I was too surprised to maintain the same level of anger.**

**"But can your truck make it there on one tank of gas?" He matched my pace again.**

"Show off." Bella grumbled.

**"I don't see how that is any of your business." Stupid, shiny Volvo owner.**

**"The wasting of finite resources is everyone's business."**

**"Honestly, Edward." I felt a thrill go through me as I said his name, and I hated it. "I can't keep up with you. I thought you didn't want to be my friend."**

**"I said it would be better if we weren't friends, not that I didn't want to be."**

"Nice one, bro. you can't ever make up your mind can ya?" Emmett said, chuckling.

**"Oh, thanks, now that's all cleared up." Heavy sarcasm. I realized I had stopped walking again. We were under the shelter of the cafeteria roof now, so I could more easily look at his face. Which certainly didn't help my clarity of thought.**

**"It would be more...prudent for you not to be my friend," he explained. "But I'm tired of trying to stay away from you, Bella."**

**His eyes were gloriously intense as he uttered that last sentence, his voice smoldering. I couldn't remember how to breathe.**

**"Will you go with me to Seattle?" he asked, still intense.**

**I couldn't speak yet, so I just nodded. He smiled briefly, and then his face became serious.**

**"You really should stay away from me," he warned. "I'll see you in class."**

**He turned abruptly and walked back the way we'd come.**

"Really can't ever make up your mind? So, so sad." Kithrin said shaking her head back and forth.

"I want to finish this book before people have to go home. Shut up." Kira said, exasperated.

* * *

**AN: I have chapter five typed, but I haven't let them read it yet. I'll try to get it up soon.**


	7. Serious Note

**Serious note here.**

**I don't currently have a reason to keep posting my stuff. I really don't. **

**There are a few people who I know read my stories, but I talk to them face-to-face at school. Kya and Brycelynn don't even get on this site, and I text them the stories. Bitoku doesn't have internet where she stays, so she reads them off my iPod or off the physical papers. Kira will read them here, read them when I email them to her, or just not read them at all. As far as I know, Gabriel hasn't read my stories in forever. And Ryo and I have only had 1 real conversation since the beginning of 2012.**

**I have stories that haven't even been posted, and as it stands now, they won't be. I don't want to be one of those 'review to get the next chapter' writers. I've tried to keep to an update schedule, and failed miserably. So, I won't.**

**I promised Kira that I would write two chapters on each of my stories over spring break, and I will.**

**There's a poll up on my profile as to which stories will actually get posted. I'm not taking my stories down, but they will be going on hiatus. If a story gets 5 votes, then it will be posted. Some stories are being rewritten.**

**Eta **


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